Patent ID: 7497546

Claim:
An ink jet printer comprising: an endless belt for carrying at least one printing sheet; a pair of rollers for rotating the endless belt; an ink jet head for jetting ink towards the printing sheet being carried by the endless belt and towards the endless belt; a scraper for removing ink adhered to the endless belt; a cleaning liquid dispenser provided between the ink jet head and the scraper; a feeder that feeds the printing sheet onto an outer surface of the endless belt, the feeder being activated so that consecutive printing sheets are aligned along the endless belt leaving a gap between the consecutive printing sheets; a driver that drives the ink jet head to jet ink towards the outer surface of the endless belt at the gap; and a mechanical shifter that moves the dispenser between a first state in which the dispenser supplies the cleaning liquid onto the endless belt and a second state in which the dispenser does not supply the cleaning liquid onto the endless belt, wherein the mechanical shifter is driven in association with the rotation of the endless belt, and the dispenser supplies the cleaning liquid onto the outer surface of the endless belt at the gap.