Jet printing ink composition containing an acetylenic compound and a lactone

Claim 1

In a process for information recording comprising producing a fine jet of colored aqueous liquid, directing the jet of colored liquid onto a recording medium, modulating the density of the applied jet by an electric field in accordance with the information to be recorded, the improvement comprising the presence as a humectant consisting of the combination of at least one water-soluble acetylenic compound selected from α-substituted acetylenic compounds exhibiting the structural formula: ##STR6## in which each of R 1 and R 2 may be substituents selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, hydroxy-substituted and alkoxy-substituted alkyl, alkenyl, and alkynyl groups, and R 1 and R 2 may together be a carbonyl oxygen; R 3 may be a substituent of the group consisting of hydrogen, halogen, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, hydroxy-substituted and alkoxy-substituted alkenyl and alkynyl groups, and substituted-alkyl groups having the formula: ##STR7## in which each of R 4 and R 5 may be substituents selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, and hydroxy-substituted and alkoxy-substituted alkyl, alkenyl, and alkynyl groups, and when R 1 and R 2 together are carbonyl oxygen, R 3 may be an aryl group, including hydroxy and alkoxy and alkyl-substituted aryl; each of R.sub.α and R.sub.α' may be substituents selected from the group consisting of hydroxy, alkoxy, carboxy-substituted alkoxy, formoxy, alkanoxy, halogen and polyoxy groups and the internal anhydride of at least one carboxylic acid selected from the group consisting of the lactones of fatty acids, the lactones of alicyclic acids, the lactones of acetylenic acids, and the lactones of aromatic acids in a ratio of 90:1 of the former to 1:90 of the latter.