Patent ID: 8469497

Claim:
An ink delivery system for transporting ink to a printhead comprising: a plurality of ink reservoirs, each reservoir containing an ink having a colorant that is different than a colorant in the ink in the other ink reservoirs of the plurality of ink reservoirs; a plurality of conduits, each conduit in the plurality of conduits having a length between an inlet and an outlet, the inlet of each conduit being in fluid communication with only one of the reservoirs and each of the reservoirs being in fluid communication with only one of the conduit inlets, the conduits in the plurality of conduits being arranged to enable a substantial portion of the lengths of the conduits to be in parallel with one another, and a first conduit in the plurality of conduits being spatially separated from a second adjacent parallel conduit by a distance that is greater than a distance spatially separating the second adjacent parallel conduit from a third conduit that is adjacent and parallel to the second adjacent parallel conduit; a heater, the plurality of conduits being proximate a first side of the heater to enable the heater to heat ink being carried through the parallel conduits of the plurality of conduits; a flexible sheet disposed underneath each conduit in the plurality of conduits, the flexible sheet having openings in a portion of the flexible sheet extending between the first conduit and the adjacent conduit in the plurality of conduits; and a printhead in fluid communication with the outlet of each conduit of the plurality of conduits to enable the printhead to receive all colors of ink contained in the plurality of reservoirs.