Patent ID: 8761645

Claim:
A transfer apparatus comprising: a transfer roller which opposes an image carrier, wherein the transfer roller is configured to transfer developer carried on a peripheral surface of the image carrier onto a recording medium conveyed along a conveyance path, and wherein the transfer roller is further configured to rotate in synchronization with the recording medium when the recording medium is conveyed along the conveyance path; a guide-member supporting frame which is provided upstream of a transferring portion in the conveyance path, wherein the transferring portion is a portion of the conveyance path where the image carrier and the transfer roller are closest to one another, and wherein the guide-member supporting frame is provided on a same side of the conveyance path as the transfer roller; a flexible guide member which has a thin plate shape, which is attached to the guide-member supporting frame upstream of the transferring portion in the conveyance path, and which is configured to guide the recording medium to the transferring portion; and an inflexible protrusion which has a rigid shape, which is provided on the guide-member supporting frame between the transferring portion and the guide member in the conveyance path, and which protrudes toward the conveyance path such that the protrusion supports a trailing edge of the recording medium after the trailing edge of the recording medium passes the guide member, wherein the guide member includes: a fixed portion which is fixed to the guide-member supporting frame; and a swing portion which is provided downstream of the fixed portion in the conveyance path, and wherein the swing portion is disposed closer to the conveyance path than the fixed portion, and wherein the protrusion is configured to abut the guide member when the swing portion of the guide member swings towards the guide-member supporting frame by abutting the recording medium, and wherein, when the protrusion abuts the guide member, the guide member does not extend downstream of the protrusion in the conveyance path.