Patent ID: 7334887

Claim:
In an ink container shell for an ink jet cartridge comprising spaced apart side walls, a front wall, a rear wall, and a bottom wall, a partition in said shell dividing the interior thereof into first and second chambers for respectively receiving an ink and an ink absorbing material, an opening through a bottom portion of said partition adjacent said bottom wall for communicating ink in said first chamber with ink absorbing material in said second chamber, and an outlet port in said bottom wall for said second chamber the improvement comprising: said opening having an area, and ink absorbing material in said second chamber having a surface at a lower end portion thereof facing said opening and having an area greater than the area of said opening, said enlarged surface area configured to allow ink to freely saturate across said lower end portion of said ink absorbing material and provide a substantially constant transfer rate of ink in said first chamber into said ink absorbing material, wherein said bottom wall is in its entirety a substantially straight wall portion and wherein said opening has a bottom portion which lies in substantially the same plane as a top portion of said outlet port.