Abstract: An ink container shell for an ink jet cartridge has spaced apart side walls, a front wall, a rear wall, and a bottom wall, a partition in said shell dividing the interior thereof into first and second chambers for respectively receiving an ink and an ink absorbing material, an opening through the partition for communicating ink in said first chamber with ink absorbing material in the second chamber, and which has a height greater than its width. The shell further includes an outlet port in the bottom wall of the second chamber provided with a wick retaining arrangement, and a block of ink absorbing material in the second chamber having an angled surface facing the opening through the partition and having an area greater than the area of the opening. A lever and tongue component for releasably interengaging the container with a holder therethrough has smooth surfaces and edges to facilitate handling of the container.

Abstract: An ink container shell for an ink jet cartridge has an ink chamber provided with an optical ink detection device in the form of a single or multi-segment prism having interface surfaces for reflecting light in a scan plane from a first to a second exterior area relative to the container shell when an ink level in the chamber recedes to a given level. The multi-segment prism provides for scanning a cartridge in different scanning planes. Either a single prism or the multi-segment prism can be separate from the cartridge and interengaged therewith by a snap-fit.

Abstract: An ink container shell for an ink jet cartridge has spaced apart side walls, a front wall, a rear wall, and a bottom wall, and is provided with a partition structure which divides the interior thereof into three ink chambers, at least one of which has a non-rectangular profile in cross-section transverse to said side, front and rear walls. The partition structures enable varying the volumes of the ink chambers with respect to a given shell exterior profile and enable isolating two the chambers from one another by interposing the third chamber therebetween.