Patent ID: 8517504

Claim:
A printer comprising: an ink jet print head having a plurality of nozzles to mark a printable recording medium with ink; and an ink system to provide ink to the nozzles; including: a print head capping system to cap the nozzles whenever the nozzles are not in use; and a hydration system to supply a hydration fluid to the print head capping system to provide moisture to the ink at the nozzles while the nozzles are capped, including: a fluid source; a first fluid regulating device; a fluid distribution system; a second fluid regulating device; a second fluid distribution system; a first sensor to detect a fluid in a capping system; and a controller to activate the first fluid regulating device to supply the fluid from the fluid source to the fluid distribution system and ink at print head nozzles upon the controller determining that hydrating is to be performed and activates the second fluid regulating device and the second fluid distribution system to supply fluid from the fluid source to ink removal lines to prevent clogging of the ink removal lines.