APPARATUS FOR ASSISTING PRINTING HAVING OFFSET WICK
A printing assistance apparatus for a media width printhead is provided. The printhead has rows of fluid ejection nozzles extending along the media width, The apparatus has an elongate platen having a surface for supporting media across the media width as the media travels past the printhead along a media travel direction, the platen having an elongate slot along the media width, a wick element positioned within the slot for wicking fluid ejected by the nozzles from the supporting surface, and an alignment mechanism for aligning the platen with the printhead so that the opposed longitudinal edges of the slot are respectively positioned upstream and downstream of the media travel direction with respect to a centerline along the length the nozzle rows with the upstream edge being closer to the centerline than the downstream edge such that the wick element has a smaller upstream surface area.
1 . A printing assistance apparatus for a media width printhead, the printhead having a plurality of rows of fluid ejection nozzles extending along the media width, the apparatus comprising:
an elongate platen having a surface for supporting media across the media width as the media travels past the printhead along a media travel direction, the platen having an elongate slot along the media width;
a wick element positioned within the slot for wicking fluid ejected by the nozzles from said supporting surface; and
an alignment mechanism for aligning the platen with the printhead so that the opposed longitudinal edges of the slot are respectively positioned upstream and downstream of the media travel direction with respect to a centerline along the length the nozzle rows with the upstream edge being closer to the centerline than the downstream edge such that an upstream surface area of the wick element is less than a downstream surface area of the wick element
2 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the wick element is formed of porous material.
3 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the wick element is removably clipped within the slot.
4 . An apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the platen comprises datum elements which contact the printhead so that the supporting surface is spaced from the nozzles by a first distance, the wick element being positioned within the slot so that wick element is spaced from the nozzles by a second distance greater than the first distance.