Patent ID: 7044579

Claim:
A maintenance method for an ink jet head which ejects ink supplied from an ink control tank via an ink supply path, as ink droplets from a plurality of orifices arranged in an orifice plate, the method comprising: controlling the pressure in said ink control tank against the atmospheric pressure applied to a surface of the ink to push the ink out of each orifice as a purging operation of ink carried out to remove particles of dirt in the ink and then maintain the pressure applied to the ink surface of each orifice approximately to the atmospheric pressure such that the surface of the ink is not set back from said orifice plate toward said ink supply path after the purging operation; and sucking ink remaining in the vicinity of each orifice and on a surface of said orifice plate surrounding each orifice in a state where the pressure applied to the ink surface of each orifice is maintained approximately to the atmospheric pressure.