Recording means for enhancing removal of ink deposited on an ejection side surface thereof, ink jet recording apparatus having said recording means, and recovery method

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising:

• a carriage for carrying recording means for effecting recording by ejection of ink on a recording material;
• a cap for capping an ejection outlet of said recording means formed in an ejection side surface, wherein the ejection side surface and a contact plane of said cap are inclined at the same angle relative to a main scan direction of said carriage;
• sucking means for sucking the ink out through the ejection outlet while said cap is closely contacted to said ejection side surface;
• and
• clearance forming means for forming a clearance at a part of close-contact portion between said ejection side surface and said cap by relative motion between said cap and said carriage.

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising:

• a carriage for carrying recording means for effecting recording by ejection of ink on a recording material;
• a cap for capping an ejection outlet of said recording means formed in an ejection side surface, wherein the ejection side surface and a contact plane of said cap are inclined at different angles relative to a main scan direction of said carriage;
• sucking means for sucking the ink out through the ejection outlet while said cap is closely contacted to said ejection side surface;
• and
• clearance forming means for forming a clearance at a part of close-contact portion between said ejection side surface and said cap by relative motion between said cap and said carriage.

An ink jet recording apparatus comprising:

• a carriage for carrying recording means for effecting recording by ejection of ink on a recording material;
• a cap for capping an ejection outlet of said recording means formed in an ejection side surface;
• sucking means for sucking the ink out through the ejection outlet while said cap is closely contacted to said ejection side surface;
• an air communication opening, in said recording means, for communicating a space covered by said cap with ambient air, wherein said air communication opening is open at one end in said ejection side surface;
• and
• shut-off means for shutting off and opening said air communication opening.

A method of recovering an ink jet apparatus provided with a carriage capable of carrying recording means for effecting recording by ejection of ink on the recording material, comprising the steps of:

• capping an ejection side surface having an ejection outlet by a cap at least partly deformable;
• sucking the ink through the ejection outlet by sucking means while the cap being closely contacted to the ejection side surface;
• forming a clearance at a first part of the close-contact portion between the cap and the ejection side surface while maintaining a second part of the close-contact portion at a closely contacted state;
• and
• operating said sucking means while the clearance is present.

A method of recovering an ink jet recording apparatus having a carriage for carrying recording means for effecting recording by ejection of ink to a recording material, comprising:

• capping with a cap an ejection outlet formed in an ejection side surface of said recording means;
• sucking the ink through said ejection outlet while the cap is closely contacted to the ejection side surface, and while an air communication opening provided in said recording means for communication of a space closed by the cap with ambient air, is being in a closed state, wherein said air communication opening is open at one end in said ejection side surface;
• and
• sucking an inside of the cap while the air communication opening is in an open state.