56 at the distal end 59 of the hollow cylindrical boss is a septum 60 having a slit 62 the septum is secured to the distal end 59 of the hollow cylindrical boss 56 by a crimp cap 64 a spring 66 and a sealing ball 68 are positioned within the boss 56 and are held in place by the compliant septum 60 and a retaining surface 67 of the hollow cylindrical boss 56 the length of the spring 66 is such that the spring biases the sealing ball 68 against a sealing surface on the septum 60 to form a fluidic seal in one preferred embodiment the sealing surface is a raised annular rib 69 surrounding an opening to the slit 62 in septum 60 an additional seal is formed by the self sealing slit 62 in the septum 60 fig3 depicts the fluid outlet 18 positioned within the fluid inlet 20 to establish fluid communication between the ink container 12 and the ink container receiving station 14 insertion of the ink container 12 into the ink receiving station 14 involves the alignment of the fluid outlet 18 with the fluid inlet 20 during insertion of the ink container 12 into the ink container receiving station 14 the guiding and aligning features 26 and 30 provide a coarse alignment of the fluid outlet 18 with the fluid inlet 20 this coarse alignment ensures that the leading edge or distal end of the fluid outlet 18 falls within a receiving diameter designated d r in fig2 the receiving diameter d r represents a diameter defined by an outer extent of the tapered leading edge 54 of the housing 50 for a fluid outlet 18 having a distal end diameter represented by d o in fig2 then the.