Patent ID: 7421229

Claim:
An image forming apparatus for forming an image by transferring a toner image onto a transfer member, the image forming apparatus comprising: a photoconductor, rotatably supported about a rotational axis thereof, for forming an electrostatic latent image on a surface of the photoconductor, and forming a toner image on the surface of the photoconductor by attracting a toner onto the electrostatic latent image; a charger for charging the photoconductor by contact charging; and a charge remover for removing charge residues from the surface of the photoconductor after the toner image is transferred from the surface of the photoconductor onto the transfer member, wherein the charge remover includes a light source for emitting a certain amount of charge removing light; and a light guiding member for linearly projecting the charge removing light onto the surface of the photoconductor, the light guiding member having an incident end facing the light source, and an exit end facing the surface of the photoconductor, the light guiding member being operative to control the amount of the charge removing light to be projected onto the surface of the photoconductor in a direction of the rotational axis of the photoconductor.