Patent ID: 8226193

Claim:
A liquid droplet jetting apparatus which jets liquid droplets onto an object, comprising: a transporting mechanism which transports the object along a transporting path extended in a predetermined transporting direction; two heads each having a plurality of nozzles arranged in a row in an intersecting direction intersecting with the transporting direction, the two heads each jetting the liquid droplets from the nozzles while maintaining a relative position of the two heads, the two heads each jetting the liquid droplets from the nozzles onto the object even when no defective nozzle has been found; a head relative-position changer which changes the relative position of the two heads between a first relative position and a second relative position which is different from the first relative position in the intersecting direction; and a defective-nozzle information acquiring mechanism which acquires defective-nozzle information indicating a defective nozzle, among the nozzles of both of the two heads, that is defective in liquid-droplet jetting; wherein the two heads are line heads which jet the liquid droplets while being stationary relative to the liquid droplet jetting apparatus; wherein lengths, in the intersecting direction, of areas in the two heads in which the nozzles are arranged are substantially the same; wherein the head relative-position changer determines the second relative position based on the defective-nozzle information, such that a defective nozzle of one of the two line heads and a defective nozzle of the other of the two line heads are at different positions with each other in an orthogonal direction which is orthogonal to the transporting direction; wherein the defective-nozzle information acquiring mechanism optically detects the defective nozzle; and wherein an amount of a liquid droplet, jetted from a certain nozzle of one of the two heads when a nozzle of the other of the two heads which is located at a same position in the orthogonal direction as the certain nozzle of the one of the two line heads is defective, is greater than an amount of a liquid droplet jetted from the certain nozzle of the one of the two heads when the nozzle of the other of the two heads is not defective.