Patent ID: 6964835

Claim:
An image forming method comprising: charging an image bearer with a charger; irradiating the image bearer with light to form an electrostatic latent image thereon; developing the electrostatic latent image with a toner to form a toner image on the image bearer; transferring the toner image onto a transfer sheet with a transferer; fixing the toner image on the transfer sheet upon application of heat; and cleaning a surface of the image bearer with a cleaner; and wherein the toner comprises: a binder resin; a colorant; and a zirconium compound formed of zirconium and at least one compound selected from the group consisting of an aromatic oxycarboxylic acid, a salt of an aromatic oxycarboxylic acid and mixtures thereof; said zirconium compound having a main diffraction peak (A) at a Bragg (2θ) angle of 5.5±0.3° and a diffraction intensity of from 2,000 to 15,000 cps when irradiated with a specific X-ray of CuKα.