Patent ID: 7783235

Claim:
A development apparatus, comprising: a toner supporting object to support and convey a toner by a movement of the toner supporting object, while the toner is hopping on a surface of the toner supporting object due to an electric field; a regulating member to regulate a thickness of the toner on the toner supporting object, the regulating member comprised of a flexible material and supported at one end thereof, the other end of the regulating member contacting the toner support object; and a latent image supporting object to support a latent image, wherein the toner supporting object is moved to convey the toner on the surface thereof to a position opposite the latent image supporting object where the toner is attached to the latent image on the latent image supporting object, wherein the toner supporting object includes a plurality of slots formed in the surface thereof, each slot including an electrode formed therein, the toner supporting object further including a protection layer formed on the surface thereof, and wherein each of the protection layer and the flexible material of the regulating member includes a material that promotes frictional electrification of the toner to a regular electrification polarity as the protection layer based on slide contact of the flexible material with the toner on the surface of the toner supporting object.