Patent ID: 7597436

Claim:
A maintenance liquid for an ink jet recording apparatus consisting essentially of water, an alkylene glycol monoalkyl ether, and an acetylene glycol surfactant, wherein the alkylene glycol monoalkyl ether is present in the maintenance liquid in an amount of 0.3 to 15% by weight and the acetylene glycol surfactant is present in the maintenance liquid in an amount of 0.05 to 5% by weight, said amounts of the alkylene glycol monoalkyl ether and the acetylene glycol surfactant being such that the maintenance liquid is effective in removal of ink from an ink passage of the ink jet recording apparatus, the amount of the acetylene glycol surfactant being sufficient to improve the removal of ink from the ink passage as compared with the maintenance liquid without the acetylene glycol surfactant, and wherein the maintenance liquid has a surface tension of not more than 40 mN/m at 25°/C.