Patent ID: 8412089

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a toner having a volume average particle size in a range of from about 4 μm to about 10 μm; an image carrier configured to carry a toner image; a transferor opposing the image carrier to form a transfer nip and configured to transfer the toner image on the image carrier onto a recording medium at the transfer nip; a fixing unit configured to fix the toner image on the recording medium; and a guide configured to guide the recording medium bearing the toner image from the transferor toward the fixing unit and including a surface portion directly contacting the recording medium, the guide including a plurality of insulating ribs protruding in a direction that is transverse with respect to a conveying direction of the recording medium, and a discharger configured to discharge an electrical charge of the recording medium immediately after the transferor transfers the toner image onto the recording medium, wherein the discharger includes elements disposed between the plurality of insulating ribs, wherein the discharger includes a plurality of discharging teeth that each extend in a direction substantially parallel to the conveying direction of the recording medium, and the discharger and the plurality of insulating ribs are positioned such that each of the ribs of the plurality of insulating ribs is disposed between two adjacent discharging teeth of the plurality of discharging teeth.