An inkjet printer which discharges ink on a recording medium from an ink nozzle to print the recording medium, for example, if the ink nozzle is clogged, a printing quality if deteriorated. Therefore, while a printing head is standing by, the printing head moves to a position (retraction position) deviated from a top of a platen to face a maintenance mechanism. Also, an ink nozzle surface is covered by a head cap to suppress evaporation of the ink, or the ink is forcibly discharged into the head cap to solve the clogging.
There is an inkjet printer employing a serial type printing head, in which a printing head is adapted to move in a direction perpendicular to a transporting direction of a recording medium, the recording head performs a printing while carrying out scanning in a width direction of the recording medium, and after the printing is completed, the printing head moves to a retraction position which is set beside a platen, and then is stood by. In such a kind of printer, as the maintenance unit is displaced under the retraction position, the maintenance unit is faced the ink nozzle surface of the printing head standing by, and the ink nozzle surface is capped to perform the maintenance.
In addition to this, there is another inkjet printer employing a line type printing head, in which ink nozzles are arranged in a width to cover the whole printing region of the recording medium, a printing head performs printing without moving in a width direction of a recording medium. In the inkjet printer employing the line type printing head, since a width dimension of the printing head itself is large, so ad to move the printing head in the width direction of the recording medium and retract it from a top of a platen, a space having the same width as the printing head of a wide width is necessary to empty. Accordingly, there is a problem in that a device width of the printer is increased.
Patent Document 1 discloses a printer (inkjet printing apparatus) including a line type printing head. In the printer disclosed in Patent Document 1, a rotational shaft is installed at a position deviated from a transport region of the recording medium in a width direction, and one end of the printing head is rotatably supported by the rotational shaft. When the maintenance of the printing head is carried out, the printing head is rotated around the rotational shaft, and the printing head is retracted from the top of the recording medium in a 90 degree-rotated posture. In the line type printing head, since the dimension of the recording medium in the transporting direction is smaller than the width dimension, the method of retracting the printing head can narrow the width of the retracting space of the printing head. Accordingly, the device width of the printer can be narrowed by using the method of moving the printing head.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-301710A
Like Patent Document 1, in the configuration in which the printing head is rotated around a support shaft which is installed at one end thereof, the width of the space occupied by the printing head retracted from the top of the platen is narrowed, but the printing head passes a sector-shaped moving region, in which the support shaft serves as a center of the sector. So as to prevent interference of the printing head, other component should be provided to avoid the sector-shaped moving region. For example, in the configuration in which the printing head moves in the width direction only, like the related art, when components, such as a transporting roller, can come close to an upstream side of the printing head which is positioned at a position (printing position) facing the recording medium, when seen from the transporting direction of the recording medium, and then dispose at the position. However, in the case where the printing head is rotated to move, like Patent Document 1, a component, such as a transporting roller, should be disposed so as not to overlap with the sector-shaped moving region. For this reason, the installing size of the whole transporting mechanism becomes large. In order to avoid the interference of the transporting roller at the upstream side, a sector-shaped moving region may be set at a downstream side, while the rotation direction of the printing head is reversed. Since a component, such as a cutter, is disposed at the downstream side, however, there is a problem in that the installing location of the cutter should be changed.
In this way, if the printing head is rotated around the support shaft, like Patent Document 1, the components which can be disposed near the printing head should be disposed away from the printing away. Accordingly, since a space for installing a component retracting the printing head from the moving region is separately required, there is a problem in that the apparatus is increased in size.