A vertical metal bar or block (similar to a fountain cheek) added to an offset printing ink fountain that essentially divides the fountain pan into two separate pans, allowing the use of two different colors at once, for use in spot-color printing. Typically, two fountain splitters are used in two-color work, creating a four-inch "buffer zone" which prevents the two colors from mixing either in the fountain or farther along on the roller train. When doing two-color spot-color work, the lateral movement of the oscillators should be kept to a minimum (ideally, less than the width of the fountain splitter). This kind of spot-color work requires that the different-colored images be far enough apart on the plate so as to avoid the possibility of color intermingling.
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