Patent ID: 8235493

Claim:
An image recording apparatus comprising: a sheet-feed mechanism configured to perform a feeding operation in which the sheet-feed mechanism feeds a sheet along a sheet feeding path; a sheet-detect portion configured to detect a presence of the sheet at a specific position on the sheet feeding path; an image recording portion having a nozzle face in which nozzles are formed and configured to record an image on the sheet fed through the sheet feeding path by ejecting ink droplets through the nozzles; a cap configured to be movable between a first position at which the cap covers the nozzle face and a second position at which the cap is distant from the nozzle face; a sucking mechanism configured to perform a sucking operation in which the sucking mechanism sucks air or liquid from an inside of the cap in a state in which the sucking mechanism is communicated with the cap; a drive source configured to generate a drive force for driving the sheet-feed mechanism and the sucking mechanism; a drive-force transmitting mechanism configured to transmit one of a forward-direction drive force and a reverse-direction drive force generated by the drive source to the sheet-feed mechanism and the sucking mechanism respectively as a drive force for the feeding operation in one direction by the sheet-feed mechanism and as a drive force for the sucking operation of the sucking mechanism, and configured to transmit the other of the forward-direction drive force and the reverse-direction drive force to the sheet-feed mechanism as a drive force for the feeding operation in another direction by the sheet-feed mechanism; and a controller configured to control the drive source such that the sheet is fed in the one direction and discharged without the feeding of the sheet in said other direction by the sheet-feed mechanism after the sheet-detect portion has detected the sheet during the operation of the sucking mechanism.