The Evolution of Ink Cartridges

By David A. Benoit


The section of a printer that contains the ink and can be replaced anytime is called an inkjet cartridge or ink cartridge. It is responsible in depositing the ink in to the paper when printing; each cartridge has one or more divisions. A microchip, which is used for communication between the printer and cartridge if printing is needed, is implanted in each division of the cartridge.

Variants of different cartridges depend on the marketing technique of the suppliers. Consists mainly of two divisions, a cartridge has a reservoir for the black ink and one for the red, yellow, and blue - the 3 primary colors. These 3 primary colors makes up a combination called a tri-color.

A new tactic of suppliers is the personalization of printers to accept just a specific ink cartridge. This will assure suppliers that there will be no other compatible inks for the printer either electrically or physically other than the supplier's cartridges.

The precision print head partition is also one marketing strategy of printer suppliers. Cartridges with precision print head are expensive but the printer can be purchased at a lower cost. On the other hand, expensive printers don't require precision print head cartridges, thus making the cost of such cartridges cheaper.

Consumers find it expensive to buy manufacturer's specified cartridges. It also caused higher expenses for them since each color has to be purchased singly. Thus, consumers had adopted the cartridges that were supplied by unreliable sources as long as it is compatible to their printers. Furthermore, some had even made kits and used cheaper inks to refill their cartridges.

Consumers are choosing refills and fake cartridges over original ones since the cost of buying a new set of inks can be more expensive than buying a new printer. Production of fewer prints, problems to the printer, and other print problems like streaking and bleeding of colors, are some disadvantages of using refills even if they are cheaper.

The creation of the Continuous Ink Supply System or CISS is another evolution of printer cartridges. A tube that is connected on the printer itself is used by the CISS to supply ink from ink reservoirs located outside the printer. Cartridges doesn't have to be replaced, instead, containers outside the printer are just refilled once the ink is empty.

New cartridges and messy refills cost more than the cheaper CISS. Furthermore, you can conserve more ink through the Continuous Ink Supply System compared to the traditional cartridge systems.




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