Patent ID: 6840612

Claim:
An ink stick for use in a solid ink feed system of a phase change ink jet printer, wherein the feed system comprises a feed channel having a feed channel guide rail, the ink stick comprising: an ink stick body having a lateral dimension; a first ink stick guide element; and a second ink stick guide element; wherein: the ink stick body has a lateral center of gravity along the lateral dimension of the ink stick body; the first ink stick guide element is formed as a part of the bottom portion of the ink stick body; the first ink stick guide element is adapted so that when the ink stick is placed in the feed channel of the solid ink feed system with the first ink stick guide element contacting the feed channel guide rail, the contact between the first ink stick guide element and the feed channel guide rail is a load-bearing contact; the first ink stick guide element is laterally offset between a first lateral side extremity and the lateral center of gravity of the ink stick body; and the second ink stick guide element is laterally offset to a second side from the lateral center of gravity of the ink stick body, opposite the first side.