A printhead maintenance station for maintaining a printhead in an operable condition is provided. The maintenance station comprises (a) an elastically deformable cylinder having a contact surface for sealing engagement with an ink ejection face of the printhead; and (b) an engagement mechanism for reciprocally moving the cylinder between a first position in which the contact surface is sealingly engaged with the face, and a second position in which the contact surface is disengaged from the face. The engagement mechanism moves the cylinder substantially perpendicularly with respect to the face.

A method of maintaining a printhead in an operable condition is provided. The method comprises the steps of (a) providing an elastically deformable pad having a contact surface for sealing engagement with an ink ejection face of the printhead; and (b) moving the pad between a first position in which the contact surface is sealingly engaged with the face and a second position in which the contact surface is disengaged from the face. The movement causes the contact surface to be progressively contacted with the face during sealing engagement and peeled away from the face during disengagement.

A cap capable of sealing a nozzle by two methods and a droplet discharge apparatus using the cap. When the cap is pressed onto a nozzle surface with the nozzle aligned with a center of a covering portion, a lip continuously contacts the surrounding of an opening of the nozzle, thereby forming a sealed space on the surface formed with the opening of the nozzle. Although ink in the nozzle may dry when left for a long time, no influence on ink discharge operation immediately after the cap is detached is expected since the cap does not directly seal the opening. When the cap is pressed onto the nozzle surface with the nozzle aligned with a center of a sealing portion, the substantially flat sealing portion seals the opening, thereby effectively preventing drying of ink, although there may be an influence on discharge operation immediately after the cap is detached.

A printhead maintenance station for maintaining a printhead in an operable condition is provided. The maintenance station comprises an elastically deformable pad having a contact surface for sealing engagement with an ink ejection face of the printhead. The maintenance station also comprises an engagement mechanism for moving said pad between a first position in which the contact surface is sealingly engaged with the face, a second position in which the contact surface is disengaged from the face, and a third position in which the contact surface is engaged with a pad cleaner.

A device permitting the emission or discharge of material in the form of a jet by a nozzle, which is able to communicate with a cavity of the device through which the material passes and where it is pressurized in order to permit the formation of the jet under the effect of a controller. A stimulator is located in the vicinity of the nozzle in order to split up the jet into a succession of elements. The device includes a seal for the nozzle when no material jet is being discharged made of a deformable member placed between the stimulator and the nozzle and designed and positioned so as to seal the nozzle when the controller does not allow the emission of a material jet and to free the nozzle when the controller allows the emission of a jet.