Patent ID: 6381438
Filing Date: 2002-04-30
Classification: G03G

Abstract:
An image forming apparatus comprising:an image bearing member for bearing an electrostatic latent image; a charging device for applying a voltage to the surface of said image bearing member to charge the surface thereof; electrostatic latent image forming means for forming an electrostatic latent image on the surface of said image bearing member charged by said charging device; developing means for adhering toner carried on a toner carrying member to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the image bearing member to form a toner image; a transfer material carrying member for carrying and conveying a transfer material to the surface of said image bearing member; transferring means for electrostatically transferring the toner image formed on the surface of said image bearing member to a transfer material; and cleaning means for cleaning said image bearing member, wherein said toner comprises toner particles with a shape factor SF-1 of 100 to 140 and a shape factor SF-2 of 100 to 120, said cleaning means comprises a cleaning blade brought into butt contact with the surface of said image bearing member in a counter direction at a line pressure N higher than 20 g/cm and lower than 60 g/cm, and a cohesive degree &agr; of powder ranges from 10% to 60%, the powder including scraped dust which is generated by wearing of an outermost layer surface of said image bearing member due to butt contact with said cleaning blade and accumulated at the edge of the cleaning blade.