Patent ID: 7693458

Claim:
A charging device configured to apply an electric charge onto an electrostatic latent-image carrier in an image forming apparatus that forms an image with toner having spindle-shaped particles, each spindle-shaped particle having a ratio of a length in a minor axis (r 2 ) to a length in a major axis (r 1 ) (r 2 /r 1 ) in a range from 0.5 to 0.8 and a ratio of a thickness (r 3 ) to the length in the minor axis (r 2 ) (r 3 /r 2 ) in a range from 0.7 to 1.0, the charging device comprising: a charging roller that applies the electric charge onto an electrostatic latent-image carrier, wherein a surface roughness of the charging roller is equal to or smaller than 10 micrometers; and a charging-roller cleaner that is made of a non-woven fabric and is in contact with a surface of the charging roller to clean the surface, wherein a hardness of the charging roller is in a range from 30 degrees to 70 degrees in terms of Japanese industrial standards (JIS) A, wherein a surface resistance of the charging roller is in a range from 20 megaohms to 160 megaohms.