Patent ID: 7077496

Claim:
A print engine assembly mountable to an inkjet printer, the print engine assembly comprising: a housing arranged to be mountable to a printer; a printhead assembly mounted to the housing, the printhead assembly incorporating a printhead having a plurality of print nozzles for selectively ejecting drops of ink towards a print medium passing said nozzles, the printhead further having a structure that defines a space adjacent said nozzles; and a capping mechanism mounted to the housing for capping the nozzles of the printhead, wherein, when the printhead is in a printing mode, said structure allows drops of ink ejected from the nozzles to strike the print medium while preventing contact between the nozzles and foreign bodies larger than a threshold size, and wherein, when the printhead is in a non-printing mode, the capping mechanism is engageable with said structure to provide a closed atmosphere in the space.