Patent ID: 7922305

Claim:
A liquid ejector comprising: a nozzle from which liquid is ejected; a pressure chamber having an elongate shape extending in a specific direction coinciding with a longitudinal direction of the pressure chamber, the pressure chamber communicating, at one of opposite ends thereof in the specific direction, with the nozzle; a liquid-store chamber which stores the liquid that is to be supplied to the pressure chamber; a restrictor through which the other of the opposite ends of the pressure chamber in the specific direction and the liquid-store chamber communicate with each other, and which restricts a flow of the liquid; and an actuator having an active portion for generating pressure fluctuation in the liquid in the pressure chamber; wherein the one of the opposite ends of the pressure chamber which communicates with the nozzle is nearer to the nozzle than the other end of the pressure chamber; wherein the actuator generates the pressure fluctuation in the liquid in the pressure chamber by changing a state of the pressure chamber from a volume-reduced state thereof to a volume-increased state thereof, and the state of the pressure chamber is returned to the volume-reduced state such that a timing of the returning of the state of the pressure chamber is synchronized with the pressure fluctuation, whereby the liquid in the pressure chamber is ejected from the nozzle; wherein the actuator is disposed on the pressure chamber so as to define the pressure chamber and includes (a) a plurality of piezoelectric layers stacked on each other and (b) a pair of electrode layers between which one of the plurality of piezoelectric layers is interposed; wherein the one of the plurality of piezoelectric layers has a portion which is interposed between the pair of electrode layers and by which the active portion is constituted; wherein the active portion is disposed at a position corresponding to the pressure chamber so as to extend in the specific direction, and formed so as to be shorter than a length of the pressure chamber in the specific direction; and wherein a center of the active portion in the specific direction is deviated in the specific direction from a center of a distance in the specific direction between the opposite ends of the pressure chamber, toward the one of the opposite ends of the pressure chamber which is nearer to the nozzle.