US Patent 7475974 Inkjet recording apparatus

An inkjet recording apparatus comprises a main body, a print head, and a cable. The main body includes an ink container for storing ink, an ink supply pump for supplying the ink, and an operation control section. The print head includes a nozzle for expelling the ink supplied from the main body as ink particles, charging electrodes for charging the ink particles, deflecting electrodes for deflecting the charged ink particles, and a gutter for collecting ink particles that have not been used for printing. The cable includes an ink supply path through which the ink is supplied from the main body to the print head, an ink collecting path through which the ink particles collected in the gutter are returned to the ink container, signal lines interconnecting the operation control section and the print head. An ink collecting pump for transferring the ink particles collected in the gutter to the ink container is disposed in the print head.