Patent ID: 7614740

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an apparatus body having an image forming part that forms an image by scanning a recording head discharging droplets of a recording liquid; a paper eject part located in an upper portion of said apparatus body for stacking recording papers having the image formed thereon by said image forming part, the paper eject part being located above said recording head; an image reading part located above said paper eject part; an engine unit including the recording head and a maintenance and recovery mechanism configured to maintain and recover a performance of said recording head, the engine unit including the image forming part and a sub-scanning part which are incorporated into a single unit; a waste discharge receiving part configured to receive the droplets that do not contribute formation of the image; an eject paper conveyance part provided on a downstream side of the engine unit in a paper conveyance direction perpendicular to a scanning direction of the recording head; an ink cartridge attaching part provided under the eject paper conveyance part and configured for an ink cartridge to be detachably attached thereto; a right front cover provided at a position corresponding to the engine unit and configured to be opened and closed, to allow the engine unit, including the image forming part and the sub-scanning part which are incorporated into the single unit, to be assembled to the apparatus body; and a left front cover provided at a position corresponding to the ink cartridge attaching part and configured to be opened and closed in order to replace the ink cartridge, wherein when viewed from above, the right front cover corresponding to the waste discharge receiving part of the engine unit projects relative to the left front cover, and the left front cover corresponding to the ink cartridge attaching part is retracted relative to the right front cover, and wherein said apparatus body accommodates said maintenance and recovery mechanism and said waste discharge receiving part therein on both ends of a scanning range of said recording head.