Patent ID: 7941071

Claim:
A lubricant application device, comprising: a lubricant supplied to a surface of an image carrier for carrying a toner image; a lubricant supplier provided downstream from a cleaning blade for removing residual toner after the toner image is transferred from the image carrier in a direction of movement of the image carrier and configured to supply the lubricant to the surface of the image carrier; a lubricant smoother provided downstream from the lubricant supplier in the direction of movement of the image carrier and configured to slidably contact the image carrier to smooth the lubricant supplied to the surface of the image carrier; and a sealing member configured to seal a space between the cleaning blade and the lubricant smoother at both ends of the lubricant supplier in an axial direction of the image carrier, while the cleaning blade and the lubricant smoother seal spaces between the surface of the image carrier and the cleaning blade and between the surface of the image carrier and the lubricant smoother in an axial direction of the image carrier, wherein a gap is provided between a side edge of the surface of the image carrier and a top edge of the sealing member in a direction perpendicular to an axial direction of the image carrier, extending in the longitudinal direction of the image carrier.