Patent ID: 7817955

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image bearing member configured to bear a latent electrostatic image; a charging member configured to charge a surface of the image bearing member; an irradiation member configured to irradiate the image bearing member to write the latent electrostatic image; a development member configured to develop the latent electrostatic image with a toner to form a visualized image; a transfer device configured to transfer the visualized image directly or via an intermediate transfer body to a recording medium; a fixing device configured to fix the transferred image transferred on the recording medium; and a cleaning device configured to remove residual toner remaining on the image bearing member, wherein the cleaning device comprises an elastic member having a blade forming a front end which is in contact with the image bearing member at a pressure of from 2 to 6 Mpa; wherein the toner is granulated in an aqueous phase and comprises a laminar inorganic mineral having ions between layers; at least part of the laminar inorganic mineral is modified by an organic ion; and wherein an average of a form factor SF-1 of the toner is from 130 to 160.