Patent ID: 8374532

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a latent image bearing member; a charger that uniformly charges a surface of the latent image bearing member; an irradiator that writes an electrostatic latent image on the charged surface of the latent image bearing member; a developing member that supplies toner particles to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image; a transfer device comprising: an intermediate transfer member comprising a high-resistivity body having a surface resistivity of 10 13 Ω/□ or more under dark conditions; a primary transfer member that transfers the toner image from the latent image bearing member onto the intermediate transfer member at a primary transfer nip; and a secondary transfer member that transfers the toner image from the intermediate transfer member onto a recording medium at a secondary transfer nip; and a surface potential equalizer comprising a surface potential equalizing member that equalizes a surface potential of the intermediate transfer member at a predetermined positive or negative potential, the surface potential equalizer provided on a migration path of the intermediate transfer member from the secondary transfer nip to the primary transfer nip and between the secondary transfer nip and the primary transfer nip.