Patent ID: 7261398

Claim:
An ink tank for an inkjet printer, comprising: a tank body including a chamber for housing a printer ink, and at least one outlet through which the printer ink may pass to feed the printer ink to a printhead; a priming passageway at least partially housing a displacement fluid in fluid communication with the chamber, the priming passageway including a first orifice that is in fluid communication with an interior of the chamber; and a ram reciprocally repositionable within the priming passageway, the ram including a pathway for fluid travel that selectively establishes fluid communication between the interior of the chamber and an external fluid environment when a portion of the pathway overlaps the first orifice through the priming passageway, whereby at least a portion of the displacement fluid egresses from the priming passageway and into the chamber upon cycling of the ram within the priming passageway.