Patent ID: 8335461

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a photosensitive member for carrying a toner image; a intermediary transfer belt for carrying a toner image transferred from said photosensitive member; and steering means for stretching and steering said intermediary transfer belt, wherein said steering means includes a rotatable portion rotatable with rotation of said intermediary transfer belt, a frictional portion, provided at each opposite axial end of said rotation portion, for slidable contact with said intermediary transfer belt, supporting means for supporting said rotatable portion and each said frictional portion, and a rotation shaft rotatably supporting said supporting means, wherein said steering means is capable of steering said intermediary transfer belt by rotation thereof by forces resulting from sliding between said intermediary transfer belt and at last one frictional portion, and wherein each of said frictional portions is made of a resin material, and is provided with an inclined surface so that the distance between the rotational axis of said rotatable portion and the surface of the frictional portion increases toward an outside with respect to the direction of a rotational axis of said rotatable portion, and wherein said intermediary transfer belt is contacted to at least one of said inclined portions.