Patent ID: 8794738

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: plural color recording heads configured to discharge recording fluids of respective colors and arranged along a sheet transport direction, each recording head having plural nozzles arranged in a nozzle arrangement direction that is perpendicular to the sheet transport direction and configured to discharge droplets of a recording fluid via the nozzles onto a recording sheet in an image forming operation; a sheet transport unit configured to transport the recording sheet in the sheet transport direction; a single maintenance unit configured to perform a maintenance operation for the plural color recording heads, the single maintenance unit having a retracting position upstream of the plural color recording heads in the sheet transport direction; and a moving mechanism to move the single maintenance unit (a) in a forward direction that is parallel to the sheet transport direction and that is perpendicular to the nozzle arrangement direction in which the nozzle are arranged, from the retracting position, which is located upstream of a most upstream end of the plural color recording heads in the sheet transport direction, to a blank discharge starting position, which is located opposed to a most downstream end of the plural color recording heads that is the farthest head from the retracting position in the sheet transport direction, and (b) in a backward direction opposite the forward direction, and wherein the single maintenance unit performs the maintenance operation on each of the plural color recording heads by moving the single maintenance unit from the retracting position to the blank discharge starting position in the forward direction without performing the maintenance operation and then moving the single maintenance unit in the backward direction while simultaneously and successively performing the blank discharge from each of the plural color recording heads to the single maintenance unit.