Before reading any further, take a quick look to your right and left. There is a good chance while scanning the area around your computer you saw an inkjet printer. And if you are like me, your brain wonders just how the printer and the inkjet cartridges within work.

Inkjet printers have been around for about thirty years. Over this time the lucrative industry of the inkjet printer and accessories, such as ink cartridges and ink refills, have flourished.

The inkjet printer alone does not make a profit. It is the companion products, like inkjet catridge toner, refill ink and other print supplies that bring in the big bucks.

In order to produce an image, an inkjet printer relies on tiny nozzles emitting minuscule ink drops. Measuring in at less than 60 microns, these drops of ink are smaller than the diameter of an eyelash.

The inkjet cartridge toners are available in several forms. There are ink cartridges for black ink printing and inkjet cartridges for color printing. Working together, the cartridges print an image.

The type of inkjet printer you use will determine what kind of inkjet cartridge you will need. For the most part, the ink drops are produced by one of two inkjet technologies.

Canon inkjet toner cartridges, for example, utilize thermal bubbles when creating images. In these thermal inkjet printers, tiny resistors create heat, which vaporize the ink to create a bubble.

Once the bubble is produced it will then grow, purging ink through the cartridge nozzle and out onto a piece of paper. Up to one thousand of these nozzles, all firing at the same time, can be found within a printer inkjet cartridge.

Epson, though, patented a different kind of technology that uses piezo crystals. In piezoelectric printer ink cartridges, these crystals line the reservoirs of ink.

Vibrations within the inkjet cartridge are made with tiny electric charges. As a result of these vibrations, ink is moved out of the reservoir through the nozzle and onto the paper.

Either one of these printing methods are often favored over expensive laser printing. A laser printer uses a dry ink toner cartridge as opposed to the inkjet toner cartridges described above.

If you refill your inkjet cartridges with a refill kit or buy refill ink cartridges from a print supplies store, inkjet printing can also save you money. The ink refill process can be messy, however, and there are many stores that can help you avoid the hassle.

Cartridge World, a leading retailer of printer supplies including refilled inkjet cartridges, offer a wide variety of ink and toner cartridges at a discounted price. These offer exceptional performance without sacrificing quality or the money a new inkjet printer cartridge would.

Knowing you won't have to mortgage your house to buy your print supplies, your mind can rest easy and begin to create an endless array of media. Inkjet printer cartridges can produce labels, shirt decals pictures and birthday cards.

An inkjet printer and cartridges will open up a world of opportunity for those to express their imagination. And since you have learned a bit more about how inkjet printers and cartridges work, you can appreciate the process that much more.