Patent ID: 6996355

Claim:
An image formation apparatus comprising: an image carrying member; charging means for being applied with a voltage including an AC voltage component and coming into contact with a surface of said image carrying member so as to charge said image carrying member; developing means for visualizing an electrostatic latent image formed on said image carrying member into a developing agent image with a developing agent; transfer means for transferring the developing agent image onto a transfer member; and developing agent charging means for charging developing agent remaining on said image carrying member following the transfer, wherein said developing agent charging means is upstream from said charging means and downstream from said transfer member in a direction of motion of said image carrying member, wherein application of the AC voltage to said charging means is started before a portion on said image carrying member, where application of voltage to said developing agent charging means has started, reaches a position of coming into contact with said charging means, and wherein application of the AC voltage to said charging means is ended after a portion on said image carrying member, where application of voltage to said developing agent charging means has ended, reaches a position of coming into contact with said charging means.