Patent ID: 7625686

Claim:
An image forming method comprising the steps of: developing an electrostatic latent image formed on an image carrying member with a development device to form a toner image with toner particles comprising a resin prepared by a poly addition or polycondensation reaction, the toner particles having an average circularity of 0.94-0.99, an average equivalent circle diameter of 2.6-7.4 μm, and a slope of a circularity compared to an equivalent circle diameter from −0.050 to −0.010; transferring the formed toner image on a transfer material; fixing the formed toner image on the transfer material after the transferring; collecting non-transferred toner remaining on the image carrying member; passing the collected non-transferred toner through a toner intermediate chamber, wherein the toner intermediate chamber is provided with a cylindrical or conical structure oriented in a vertical direction which separates paper dust or toner granules toward the bottom of said toner intermediate chamber by utilizing spiraling flow formed from a gas introduced into the intermediate chamber from the development device; mixing the collected non-transferred toner with the gas in the spiraling flow to separate paper dust or toner granules from the collected non-transferred toner; and transporting the mixture of separated collected non-transferred toner and gas from the toner intermediate chamber to the development device via a suction produced by an air-pump motor so as to reuse the separated collected non-transferred toner, wherein the gas returned to the development device in the transporting of the mixture of the separated collected non-transferred toner and gas is re-introduced into the intermediate chamber to form the spiraling flow.