Ink Jet Printhead Cartridge Having An Ink Fill Access Port In Fluid Communication With The Filter Tower

An ink jet printhead cartridge, comprising:

• a cartridge body defining a cavity, and having a base;
• a printhead chip assembly attached to said base of said cartridge body;
• an ink suspension body positioned in said cavity;
• a lid covering over said cavity;
• a filter tower located between said ink suspension body and said printhead chip assembly, said filter tower having an interior surface that defines a location of a tower passageway, said tower passageway being in fluid communication with both said printhead chip assembly and said ink suspension body;
• a filter attached to said filter tower adjacent said ink suspension body;
• and
• an ink fill access port formed through said cartridge body and through said filter tower to define a fluid path from the atmosphere external to said cartridge body to said tower passageway of said filter tower to facilitate the injection of ink directly into said filter tower during an ink filling operation for said ink jet printhead cartridge.

The method of injecting ink into an ink jet cartridge having a filter tower disposed inside the cartridge and an ink fill access port disposed in a side wall of the cartridge, comprising:

• pushing a needle through the ink fill access port until at least a portion of the needle is disposed in a tower passageway inside the filter tower;
• forcing ink though the needle until the tower passageway is filled and the ink seeps ;out of the tower passageway and into an ink suspension body disposed within the cartridge;
• removing the needle from the cartridge;
• and
• sealing the ink fill access port.