Patent ID: 7231157

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image bearing member which is rotatable; latent image forming means which forms an electrostatic latent image on said image bearing member; developing means which develops the electrostatic latent image formed on said image bearing member and forms a toner image; transferring means which transfers the toner image on said image bearing member to a transferring material; a corona charging device which has a discharge wire to charge toner of the toner image before transfer and a shield member which opposes and surrounds the discharge wire, said corona charging device being arranged at a position on a downstream side of a developing position on said image bearing member with respect to a rotational direction of said image bearing member; a fan which sucks air from a side of said image bearing member to form an air flow path through an inside of the shield member; and a density detecting member, which detects a density of the toner image on said image bearing member, said density detecting member being provided proximate to said corona charging device and on a downstream side of said corona charging device with respect to the rotational direction of said image bearing member, and on an upstream side of said transferring means, wherein a distance between an end part of said shield member on a side closer to said development means and a surface of said image bearing member is greater than a distance between an end part of said shield member on a side closer to said density detecting member and the surface of said image bearing member.