US Patent 7401890 Intercolour surface barriers in multi colour inkjet printhead

An inkjet printhead for use with a nozzle capper that engages the printhead when not in use, the inkjet printhead having a nozzle plate defining an array of nozzles and having an exterior surface for engagement with the capper; such that, when the capper disengages from the exterior surface, residual ink between the capper and the exterior surface moves across the exterior surface because of a meniscus between the capper and the exterior surface; wherein, the exterior surface has gutter formations for retaining at least some of the residual ink pushed along the exterior surface by the meniscus. Gutter formations running transverse to the direction that the capper is peeled away from the nozzle plate will remove and retain some of the ink in the meniscus. While the gutters do not collect all the ink in the meniscus, they do significantly reduce the level of nozzle contamination of with different coloured ink.