Patent ID: 7152966

Claim:
An ink cartridge for use with a recording device that includes a hollow needle and an air supply member, the air supply member being adjacent to the hollow needle and having an air supply hole connected to an air pressure source, the ink cartridge being detachably mountable in the recording device, the ink cartridge comprising: a case provided therein with an ink chamber; a flexible film that forms a portion of the ink chamber; a resilient plug member that closes off the ink chamber, the hollow needle piercing the resilient plug member and supplying ink from the ink chamber to the recording device when the ink cartridge is mounted in the recording device; an opening portion formed in the case at a position adjacent to the plug member, the opening portion being in fluid communication with a space that is defined inside the case to be adjacent to the ink chamber; and a portion that abuts the air supply member so that the air supply hole covers the opening portion when the ink cartridge is mounted in the recording device.