Patent ID: 7376380

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image carrier that carries a latent image; a charging unit that electrostatically charges a surface of the image carrier; an exposure unit that subjects electrostatically charged surface of the image carrier to exposure according to image data to write a latent image on the surface; a developing unit that supplies a toner to the latent image formed on the surface of the image carrier to visualize the latent image into a visible image; a transfer unit that transfers the visible image from the surface of the image carrier to another surface; a cleaning unit, being in contact with the surface of the image carrier, that removes the toner remaining on the surface of the image carrier by a rotatable brush roller and a cleaning blade placed downstream of the brush roller, wherein the cleaning unit includes an elastic blade, and the elastic blade is made to abut against the image carrier at a linear pressure of 0.1 N/cm to 0.5 N/cm; and a lubricant applying unit that includes a lubricant and a brush roller, wherein the brush roller rotates and scrapes the lubricant to apply the lubricant to the surface of the image carrier, wherein the image forming apparatus has a lubricant consumption of 0.1 gram to 1.2 grams per 1,500 meters of a traveling distance of the image carrier; wherein the image carrier and the charging unit are disposed having a gap therebetween.