Non-fiberous spittoon chimney liner for inkjet printheads

Abstract

A spittoon system is provided for an inkjet printing mechanism to handle waste inkjet ink spit from an inkjet printhead during a nozzle clearing, purging or “spitting” routine. The spittoon system includes a frame defining a spittoon chamber having an entrance mouth, and a chimney passageway extending between the mouth and the chamber. A hard porous plastic liner lines this passageway from the mouth and into the chamber, with the liner material having no troublesome fibers projecting from a spit target platform so the platform can be located closer to the printhead than the earlier fiberous liners. This close spit target to printhead spacing, along with a larger spit target area traps inkjet aerosol and misdirected ink droplets ejected during a spitting routine. A method of purging ink residue from an inkjet printhead, along with an inkjet printing mechanism having such a spittoon system, are also provided.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.