Patent ID: 7556342

Claim:
An ink jet printing apparatus including a mechanism for cleaning a face of an ink jet head by wiping the face with a wiper to which a liquid for the head is transferred, the face being provided with ejection openings from which inks containing coloring materials are ejected, the ink jet printing apparatus comprising: an absorber for holding the liquid for the head, the absorber being disposed below an area where the liquid for the head is going to be transferred to the wiper in the direction of gravity; and a transferring member including a section which is connected to the absorber to receive the liquid for the head, and a section which abuts on the wiper to perform the transfer, the transferring member configured to move the liquid for the head by means of a capillary force from the section which receives the liquid for the head to the section which performs the transfer, the capillary force in the transferring member being larger than a capillary force in the absorber, wherein a capacity of the absorber is determined in view of change in volume of the liquid for the head depending on the environment in addition to multiplying an amount of the liquid for the head needed for each wiping operation by the expected number of times that the wiping operation is performed, and a safety factor.