Hewlett-packard Company

Chee Chuan Chew

Ah Chong Tee

Seng Lim Wu

Ng Keng Leong

Printer

A service station for a single-cartridge inkjet printing mechanism interchangeably receives different types of inkjet cartridges, with each type of cartridge having different servicing needs. To hermetically seal each cartridge printhead during periods of inactivity, two caps are gimbal-mounted at opposing ends of a retaining sleeve. The caps are spring-biased away from one another by a single spring, which may be compressed during printhead capping to accommodate for variations in printhead height between different cartridges. Gimbal mounting the caps allows each cap to compensate for any tilting of the printhead face when the cartridge is installed, which insures an adequate seal. The sleeve is rotated to bring the proper cap into alignment with the installed printhead. The service station also has two wipers, a spittoon, and a carriage locking mechanism. A method is also provided of servicing different types of cartridges in a single-cartridge inkjet printing mechanism.

Color capable single-cartridge inkjet service station

A spittoon system is described as an assemblage of sorbent pads that leads away from a region beneath an ink-jet printer's printhead when the latter is in its service position, with the pads' material and structure defining plural contact interface regions between successive pads, the interface regions having a plurality of hardness and sorbency characteristics. Preferably, the system includes a first sorbent pad that is spring biased into contact with a second sorbent pad. The second pad matingly engages a third pad preferably having a compatible sorbency with the second pad, but having a different hardness such that one yields to the other and the surface area of their mating expanses is maximized. Preferably, the third foam pad itself is an assemblage of two pad sections having different thicknesses, the two sections having mating fingers to produce a rabbet joint that holds them tightly in contact but permits easy assembly.

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Singapore, Singapore

Chee Chuan Chew