Riso Kagaku Corporation

Hideyuki Ujiie

Hiroshi Sugitani

Tomoyuki Akiyama

A wiper that extends toward an inkjet head and wipes a nozzle surface of the inkjet head includes: a base section extending in an extension direction of the wiper, an inclined surface continuous with the base section and having, in a direction in which the wiper travels during wiping, a thickness that gradually decreases toward the extension direction; and a leading-end projecting section thinner than the base section and provided at a leading end of the wiper in such a manner as to be continuous with the inclined surface and project in the extension direction.

Wiper and wiper mechanism

An inkjet image forming apparatus includes inkjet heads each of which has two or more nozzle rows from which ink of different colors is injected (each of the nozzle rows includes nozzle holes), a wipe unit that includes wipers and carries out a wipe process to wipe away ink remained on a surface on which the nozzle rows are formed by the wipers, and a flush unit that carries out a flush process after the wipe process by injecting ink from nozzle holes into which ink of different color from color of ink that is injected from the nozzle holes flows during the wipe process. According to the apparatus, an amount of ink consumed in the flush process can be reduced and a replacement cycle of a mist-absorbing material for absorbing ink mists generated during the flush process can be prolonged.

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Tsukuba, Japan

Hideyuki Ujiie