Nozzle guard for an ink jet printhead

摘要

A nozzle guard ( 80 ) for an ink jet printer with an array ( 14 ) of nozzles ( 22 ) and respective ink ejection means for ejecting ink onto media to be printed. The nozzle guard ( 80 ) has ink containment formations ( 146 ) that stop any misdirected ink droplets or ink leakage from damaged nozzles interfering with the operation of surrounding nozzles or dropping onto the media. To maintain print quality and to stop the supply of ink to damaged nozzles, each containment formation ( 146 ) has an ink sensor. The nozzle or nozzles ( 22 ) within the containment formation are disabled if a predetermined amount of ink is present.