to be about 1 2 cc in the third cleaning mode cl3 the quantity of sucked ink is set to be the largest value for example about 1 3 cc the third cleaning mode cl3 is designed so that the operation of sucking 1 3 cc of ink is separated into two portions that is in the third cleaning mode cl3 after 0 1 cc of ink is sucked a rubbing operation is carried out by the cleaning member 18 and then 1 2 cc of ink as the residual ink 1 3 0 1 1 2 is sucked the reference numeral 25 designates a sealing timer for measuring the time during which the recording head 7 is sealed by the capping device 10 the reference numeral 26 designates an opening timer for measuring the time during which the recording head 7 is opened from the capping device 10 incidentally whether the recording head 7 is sealed by the capping device 10 or not can be detected by the detection of the position of the carriage 1 on the basis of the signal of the carriage control means or the like the operation of the thus configured apparatus will be described below with reference to fig4 and 5 which are flow charts showing the operation when the cleaning button 21 is operated or a cleaning instruction is issued from the cleaning timer 27 managing the cleaning sequence step 100 in fig4 whether the recording head 7 is capped or not is judged on the basis of the position of the.