A device to cap a thermal ink jet printhead, without the need of moving the printhead or the paper transport is described. The capping device has a resilient gasket which contains magnetic material and is attached to the printhead by a relatively thin flexible boot or sleeve. A steel bar is disposed in sliding contact beneath a paper transport belt. The belt is adjacently spaced parallel to the printhead. The paper transport belt is flat and smooth and has a hole-free surface. During operation of the printer, an electromagnet disposed on the printhead is energized and attracts the magnetic gasket, resulting in the attraction of the gasket above the printhead nozzles to enable printing. When the printhead is not in operation, the electromagnet is de-energized, allowing the steel bar to attract the magnetic gasket and seal the gasket to the belt, capping the printhead. The capping device eliminates the need for movement of the printhead or moving the paper transport. Also, the capping device provides capping protection in case of a power failure.

A cleaning method for an ink jet recording apparatus includes a first cleaning step and a second cleaning step. In the first cleaning step, an ink discharge port surface of the apparatus is cleaned in accordance with a degree of reflection of the surface, where the reflection rate is detected by an optical sensor included in the recording apparatus. In the second cleaning step, a cleaning of the surface which is different from the first cleaning is performed in accordance with an output of the optical sensor.

A motor-driven cam disk having a radially projecting, eccentrically arranged crank pin which generates a first movement, for example the pumping movement of a bellows pump. A running wheel which is pressed by a spring force against the cam disk in a resilient manner is arranged in the radial direction on the cam disk. The running wheel serves to generate a second movement, for example the swiveling movement of a swivel lever. For this purpose, the motor-driven cam disk has two cam paths which are offset relative to one another in a stepped manner and pass into one another at two locations on the cam disk. The cam disk has a switch tongue to enable the movements generated by the motor-driven cam disk to be decoupled from one another.

An inkjet recording apparatus suppresses defective ejection while reducing a consumed ink amount. In the apparatus, a cap-open period, during which a cap member does not cap ejection ports of a recording head of the apparatus, is measured, and a recovery operation executed by a recovery unit is controlled based on a cumulated cap-open period. With the above arrangement, there can be solved a problem that the ink ejecting state of the recording head is deteriorated depending on a recording operation because a cap-open state, in which the cap member does not cap the ejection ports of the recording head, continues while the inkjet recording apparatus executes the recording operation, thereby the reliability of the inkjet recording apparatus can be improved.

In a suction recovery device in a liquid jet recording apparatus in which the discharge port surface of a recording head is capped by a cap in response to the movement of a carriage carrying the recording head thereon and which is provided with an atmosphere release valve for introducing the atmosphere into the cap after or during the suction of ink from the discharge ports, provision is made of one or more rails disposed on the back of the cap in parallel to the direction of movement of the carriage, and driving means for providing a time difference between the timing of the capping drive of the cap and the valve closing timing of the atmosphere release valve in response to the movement of the carriage to the suction recovery position.