Patent ID: 7753480

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a recording head that forms an image onto a recording medium; a guide shaft extending in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction of the recording medium; a carriage on which the recording head is mounted and including a support portion formed integrally with the carriage; and a bearing unit including a pair of plate-shaped bearing portions, the bearing unit being discrete from the support portion and detachably attached to a concave inner surface of the support portion to allow the carriage to be moved along the guide shaft, wherein each of the plate-shaped bearing portions includes a flat surface that contacts a circumferential surface of the guide shaft and a back surface that is opposite to the flat surface, wherein the carriage includes a pair of support surfaces extending from the concave inner surface for supporting the back surface of the plate-shaped bearing portions, and forming a contained angle that allows the flat surfaces of the plate-shaped portions to contact with the circumferential surface of the guide shaft at two points, and wherein the pair of support surfaces have a contained angle therebetween corresponding to the contained angle between the bearing portions.