Patent ID: 7398043

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image bearing member for carrying a toner image; toner image forming means for forming a toner image on said image bearing member; a transfer roller for contacting said image bearing member to form a nip therebetween and for being supplied with a voltage to transfer the toner image from said image bearing member onto the recording material in the nip; a voltage source for applying a voltage to said transfer roller; executing means for executing a toner application mode for transferring the toner image onto the transfer roller by applying a voltage to said transfer roller contacted to the toner image in the nip, wherein a size of the toner image transferred onto said transfer roller during an operation in the toner application mode is equal to or longer than one full circumferential length of said transfer roller with respect to a peripheral moving direction of said image bearing member and is equal to an image forming area of said image bearing member with respect to a direction perpendicular to the peripheral moving direction of said image bearing member.