Patent ID: 7762655

Claim:
A solid ink delivery system in a solid ink printer, said ink delivery system comprising: a frame in a solid ink printer; a heater for melting solid ink sticks; a guide operatively connected to the frame and configured to have a width and a height approximately equal to a width and a height for an ink stick to enable the guide to direct ink sticks along a length of the guide to the heater, said guide further comprising a drive member configured to be received in a complementary inset drive engagement feature in an ink stick in the guide to enable an upper surface of the drive member to be above a lower surface of the ink stick as the drive member moves along a portion of the guide; a sensor is positioned proximate the drive member and configured to detect whether a complementary inset drive engagement feature in an ink stick in the guide received the drive member by detecting a presence or an absence of a portion of the ink stick extending from an area below the upper surface of the guide to the lower surface of the ink stick; and a controller coupled to the sensor to control the solid ink printer in response to the sensor detecting whether the complementary inset drive engagement feature in the ink stick in the guide received the drive member.