Patent ID: 8474948

Claim:
A fluid ejecting apparatus comprising: a fluid ejecting head that has a nozzle row made of a plurality of nozzles and ejects fluid from the nozzle row; a line-shaped absorbing member that is provided to extend along the nozzle row and absorbs the fluid ejected from the nozzles at a position opposite the nozzles during a flushing operation, the line-shaped absorbing member extending from a sending unit to a winding unit; a retraction unit that retracts the absorbing member from the position opposite the nozzles to a retracted position by abutting on the absorbing member in preparation for a printing operation and in a direction transverse to a direction of travel of the line-shaped absorbing member; and positioning members disposed on both sides of the fluid ejecting head that position the absorbing member at the position opposite the nozzles when the retraction unit does not abut on the absorbing member, wherein the positioning members cooperate with rollers disposed on both sides of the fluid ejecting head to tension the line-shaped absorbing member in the position opposite the nozzles.