Patent ID: 8608282

Claim:
A liquid ejection apparatus comprising: a liquid ejection head configured to eject liquid; a carriage adapted to hold the liquid ejection head and movable in a predetermined scanning direction; a first pulley and a second pulley disposed in a housing of the apparatus and separated from each other in the scanning direction, and a first common tangent of the first and second pulleys being in parallel with the scanning direction; a third pulley disposed in the housing, and a second external common tangent of the first and third pulleys intersecting with the scanning direction; a motor having a rotatable shaft extended in a first direction and a larger diameter than the third pulley, the shaft being directly connected to the third pulley; an endless belt wound around the first pulley, the second pulley, and the third pulley as to circumscribe the first pulley, the second pulley, and the third pulley; and a belt connecting portion provided on the carriage and connected to the belt in a portion on the first external common tangent; the center of gravity of the carriage including the liquid ejection head being positioned as to overlap the liquid ejection head in the first direction, the motor having a portion which overlaps a head passing region, which is a region where the liquid ejection head passes over upon the movement of the carriage, in a second direction orthogonal to the scanning direction and the first direction, the distance between the head passing region and the third pulley in the second direction being greater than a radial difference obtained as the length of the radius of the motor minus the radius of the third pulley, and the belt connecting portion being disposed between the liquid ejection head and the third pulley in the second direction, and the distance between the head passing region and the belt connecting portion in the second direction being smaller than the radial difference.