Patent ID: 7272355

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image-carrying member rotatable in a direction about a rotational axis; a cleaning blade having a peripheral surface and disposed in contact with an image-carrying member; a cleaning brush disposed in contact with the image-carrying member at a position upstream of the cleaning blade with respect to the rotational direction of the image-carrying member; a housing disposed substantially vertically above the image-carrying member for accommodating the cleaning blade and the cleaning brush and having a toner flow path for leading toner from the cleaning blade to a position substantially vertically above the cleaning brush substantially along the peripheral surface of the cleaning brush; and an auxiliary toner conveying member disposed on the side of the cleaning brush, a predetermined gap being formed between the auxiliary toner conveying member and the cleaning brush, wherein the toner flow path is formed between the auxiliary toner conveying member and the peripheral surface of the cleaning brush.