Patent ID: 8096636

Claim:
A liquid discharge device comprising: a liquid discharge head for discharging liquid; a maintenance and recovery mechanism including a waste liquid dispensing member, the maintenance and recovery mechanism removing waste liquid from the liquid discharge head and dropping the waste liquid through the waste liquid dispensing member; and a waste liquid storage container for storing waste liquid of the liquid, wherein the waste liquid storage container includes: a container body divided into plural segments; a waste liquid absorption member disposed on each segment of the container body, the waste liquid absorption member being made of a high water-absorbing polymer or a high oil-absorbing polymer; a partition portion dividing an internal space of the container body into plural adjacent container portions; and a communication portion formed on the partition portion, for the adjacent container portions to communicate with each other, wherein the communication portion is disposed at a position above the waste liquid absorption member, in a direction opposite to a dropping direction of the waste liquid dropping from the waste liquid dispensing member to the waste liquid storage container, so as not to be closed when the polymer is swelled.