Patent ID: 8403455

Claim:
A fluid ejecting apparatus including a fluid ejecting head having nozzle rows formed by a plurality of nozzles, in which a fluid is ejected from the nozzle rows, the fluid ejecting apparatus comprising: an absorbing member which extends along the nozzle rows, is installed so as to move from one side of the nozzle rows to the other side, and absorbs the fluid ejected from the nozzles; a moving mechanism which moves the absorbing member in a direction intersecting the nozzle rows; and a running mechanism which runs the absorbing member from the one side of the nozzle rows to the other side, wherein the moving mechanism includes a pair of moving mechanism sections which are respectively placed at one side and the other side of the nozzle rows to move the absorbing member from a reference position of one side to a predetermined position of the other side in a direction perpendicular to the nozzle rows, and to move the absorbing member from the predetermined position to the reference position, wherein the moving mechanism section includes a moving member provided so as to reciprocate along the direction intersecting the nozzle rows, a positioning member provided on the moving member so as to move along the direction intersecting the nozzle rows, having a stop position at the predetermined position in the direction perpendicular to the nozzle rows, and having the absorbing member in a movable manner, and a first biasing member for biasing the positioning member from the reference position side to the predetermined position side in the direction perpendicular to the nozzle rows, wherein the pair of moving mechanism sections holds the absorbing member between the respective positioning members, and being adapted to extend the absorbing member along the nozzle row, wherein the positioning member is adapted to be biased in a direction opposite to the biasing direction of the first biasing member if a tension of the held absorbing member becomes strong, wherein a tension applying mechanism is provided which applies tension to the absorbing member held between the positioning members, and decreases the tension applied to the absorbing member if the positioning member moves to the reference position side in the direction perpendicular to the nozzle rows or increases the tension applied to the absorbing member if the positioning member moves to the predetermined position side.