Patent ID: 7073902

Claim:
A method of ink jet printing onto a web having such pores or other openings therethrough such that, when ink is jetted from a printhead onto the web, some of the ink jets through the openings to a side of the web opposite the printhead, the method comprising: providing a surface on the opposite side of the web from the printhead; stretching the web through a printing station by applying tension to the web; moving the web longitudinally through the printing station; at the printing station, maintaining a space between the web and the surface such that the web is out of contact with the surface at the printing station so that when ink is jetted through the web and onto the surface it does not contaminate the web; jetting ink from the printhead onto the web while imparting relative movement between the web and the printing station, with some of the ink jetting through the web, across the space and onto said surface.