Patent ID: 7735960

Claim:
A head cartridge comprising: a liquid ejection head for a liquid from a plurality of liquid ejection nozzles on a nozzle surface; cleaning means for cleaning the nozzle surface of ejection head by moving a porous wiping member so as to bring an elastic deformation of the porous wiping member into contact with the nozzle surface; and deforming means for temporarily increasing the elastic deformation of the wiping member at a position in the foreground of the liquid ejection nozzles in cleaning direction, wherein, the deforming means is also an increasing means for temporarily increasing a pressure contact amount of the wiping member to the nozzle surface at a position in the foreground of the liquid ejection nozzles in the cleaning direction, the increasing means comprises an eccentric cam provided in a rotational shaft of the wiping member, and the liquid stuck on the nozzle surface is absorbed and removed by an absorbing force produced along with restoring operation of the elastic deformation of the wiping member.