It is very likely that your printer is made by and takes inks from one of the four main ink cartridge brands. These brands are Epson, HP, Brother, and Canon. In this article, we look at the ‘Big Four’ of ink, a brief overview of their histories and their best-selling cartridges.
Epson
Epson, or the Seiko Epson Corporation, is based in Suwa, Japan. The company traces its roots to 1942, as a watch maker called Daiwa Kogyo. Epson entered the ink market in 1984 with the release of its SQ-2000 printer.
Popular products include the 603 (Starfish), 604 (Pineapple), 27 (Alarm Clock) and 202 (Kiwi) cartridge series.
HP
HP, or Hewlett-Packard, was started in Palo Alto, California in 1939. It was founded by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard.
Popular HP inks include 62, 305, and 308 cartridges.
Canon
Canon was founded in Japan in 1933, originally making cameras. The company’s original name was the Precision Optical Instruments Company.
Canon’s most popular inks include the PG-540/CL-541, PG-545/CL-546, and PGI-560/CL-561.
Brother
Brother began in 1908 in Nagoya, Japan, as the a sewing machine repair shop, run by the Yasui brothers. It was originally called the Yasui Sewing Machine Co.
Some of Brother’s most popular cartridge lines are LC422 and LC426.
Other Brands
Of course, Epson, HP, Brother and Canon are not the only ink manufacturers. At Internet Ink, we also stock compatible and original cartridges made by brands such as Xerox, Samsung, Kodak, Dell, Lexmark, and OKI.
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