Patent ID: 7840157

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a plurality of image carrier units, each image carrier unit including an image carrier and a toner image forming means for forming respective toner images on the plurality of image carriers; primary transfer means for transferring, successively, the toner images formed on the plurality of image carriers onto a moving surface of an intermediate transfer member, the plurality of image carrier units arranged individually such that a first of the plurality of image carriers units is disposed at a furthest upstream position with respect to a direction of movement of the surface of the intermediate transfer member; secondary transfer means for transferring, in one operation, the toner images on the intermediate transfer member onto a recording medium; and intermediate transfer member cleaning means, which is in contact with the intermediate transfer member, for cleaning secondary transfer residual toner from the intermediate transfer member, the intermediate transfer member cleaning means being attached to a frame of the first of the plurality of image carrier units, wherein the plurality of image carrier units can each be individually removed from or inserted into a main body of the image forming apparatus.