Liquid discharge head, driving method therefor, and cartridge, and image forming apparatus

Abstract

A liquid discharge head comprises a plurality of main discharge ports arranged at predetermined intervals, at least one sub-discharge port arranged in the arrangement direction of the main discharge ports on both end sides of the arrangement direction of main discharge ports at intervals larger than the intervals of the main discharge port arrangement, a plurality of liquid chambers having these plural discharge ports open thereto, a common liquid chamber having these liquid chambers communicated therewith, and liquid being supplied thereto, and a plurality of discharge energy generating units provided for each of the liquid chambers corresponding to the main discharge ports and the sub-discharge ports to generate discharge energy utilized for discharging liquid from the main discharge ports and the sub-discharge ports. With the liquid discharge head thus arranged, bubbles residing on both end portions of the common liquid chamber are exhausted together with liquid thus exhausted from the sub-discharge ports, hence making it possible to effectively prevent drawback, such as color mixture, that may occur when different kinds of liquid enter the interior of liquid discharge head from the sub-discharge ports at the time of executing recovery process of the liquid discharge head which is performed by the overall suction operation.