Patent ID: 7905584

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a carriage configured to move in a scanning direction; a plurality of liquid discharging heads mounted on the carriage and configured to discharge respective liquids to form an image; a plurality of head tanks mounted on the carriage and connected to the plurality of liquid discharging heads to supply the respective liquids to the plurality of liquid discharging heads; a plurality of air release mechanisms provided in the plurality of head tanks and aligned in a predetermined direction, each of the plurality of air release mechanisms comprising a pressing member; an air release lever disposed to oppose each of the plurality of air release mechanisms and having a length in a longitudinal direction thereof sufficient to oppose all of the plurality of air release mechanisms, the longitudinal direction of the air release lever corresponding to the predetermined direction in which the plurality of air release mechanisms are aligned; a support shaft configured to rotatably support the air release lever; and a driver configured to drive and rotate the air release lever about the support shaft, wherein the carriage mounted with the plurality of head tanks including the plurality of air release mechanisms provided in the head tanks moves to a position at which all of the plurality of air release mechanisms oppose the air release lever, and the driver rotates the air release lever about the support shaft to press the air release lever against the pressing members of all of the air release mechanisms and to open the plurality of air release mechanisms substantially simultaneously, to cause an inner air pressure in the plurality of liquid discharging heads to be equivalent to an outer air pressure.