Patent ID: 7546076

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image carrier that supports an image; a contact transfer member that sandwiches a transfer medium in a transfer area between the contact transfer member and the image carrier and electrostatically transfers the image on the image carrier onto the transfer medium; and a transfer medium guiding device to guide the transfer medium to the transfer area between the image carrier and the contact transfer member, wherein the transfer medium guiding device has a pair of guide chutes that guide the transfer medium to make the transfer medium contact the outside and upstream portion of the transfer area of the image carrier, an angle formed between a contact plane on the image carrier and the transfer medium at a contact point is 45° or more and 60° or less, and a distance between one of the guide chutes closer to the transfer area and the image carrier is 1.0 mm or more and 2.5 mm or less, wherein the transfer medium guiding device comprises a flexible retainer member whose lead edge contacts a transfer medium transporting surface of the guide chute closer to the transfer area, and wherein a distance between a lead edge of the guide chute closer to the transfer area and a lead edge of the flexible retainer member is 3.5 mm or more and 5.5 mm or less.