Printhead maintenance station having one-piece elastomer pad for peeling engagement with nozzles

A printhead maintenance station for maintaining a printhead in an operable condition, said maintenance station comprising:

• an elastically deformable pad substantially coextensive with said printhead, said pad being a one-piece elastomer pad having a uniform contact surface configured for sealing contact with all nozzles in an ink ejection face of said printhead;
• a mechanism for reciprocally moving said pad between a first position in which said contact surface is sealingly contacted with all nozzles in the ink ejection face, and a second position in which said contact surface is disengaged from said face;
• wherein said pad and said mechanism cooperate such that said contact surface is progressively contacted with said face during sealing engagement and peeled away from said face during disengagement, whereby said peeling disengagement draws ink from said printhead onto said contact surface and towards one edge region only of said contact surface;
• and,
• an ink removal system for removing ink from an edge portion of said contact surface, said ink removal system comprising a wicking element or wicking channel positioned adjacent an edge of said printhead and an ink collector for receiving ink wicked through said wicking element or wicking channel, said wicking element or wicking channel being positioned to receive ink from said edge portion of said contact surface when said contact surface is being disengaged from said face.