Patent ID: 6793330
Filing Date: 2004-09-21
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink cartridge for an ink jet printer having a plurality of ink supply needles communicating with a print head, comprising:a housing having at least a bottom wall, a front wall, and a back wall; a plurality of ink chambers arranged so that when the ink cartridge is seen in a top view the ink chambers are arranged in an MÃ—N array, where M is an integer having a value of at least 3 and N is an integer having a value of 1, the ink chambers being arranged in succession along a widthwise direction that is parallel to the front wall for respectively containing different inks accommodated in said housing, each of said ink chambers extending from an inner surface of the front wall to an inner surface of the back wall of the housing; and a number of ink supply portions, where the number is M, formed in the bottom wall of said housing within respective said ink chambers and arrayed so that when the ink cartridge is seen in a front view the ink supply portions are arranged in the widthwise direction, each of said ink supply portions having an inner opening and an outer opening for receiving a respective one of the needles, wherein, when the ink cartridge is seen in the front view, a first center-to-center distance from said inner opening of a first ink supply portion to that of a second ink supply portion adjacent to said first ink supply portion is different from a second center-to-center distance from said outer opening of said first ink supply portion to that of said second ink supply portion.