Patent ID: 8750759

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a plurality of image forming units, each of which has a photosensitive drum that has a rotational axis and is rotated in a prescribed rotational direction, the photosensitive drum supporting a toner image on a circumferential surface of the photosensitive drum, a charging unit that charges the circumferential surface, a developing unit that supplies toner to the circumferential surface, and a static remover that emits charge-removing light on a portion on the circumferential surface, the portion being downstream of the developing unit in the rotational direction; a transfer belt that is brought into contact with a plurality of photosensitive drums of the plurality of image forming units and is rotationally driven so that the surface of the transfer belt moves in a prescribed movement direction and toner images are sequentially transferred to the surface, the transfer belt being an endless belt; and a plurality of transfer rollers, each of which has a roller axis, are located so as to face the plurality of photosensitive drums with the transfer belt interposed between the plurality of transfer rollers and the plurality of photosensitive drums, and transfer the toner images to the transfer belt; the static remover emits pre-transfer charge-removing light to a circumferential surface portion upstream of a position opposite to a position of the transfer roller in the rotational direction, and an amount of pre-transfer charge-removing light emitted to the circumferential surface by one static remover included in the plurality of image forming units is less than an amount of pre-transfer charge-removing light emitted to another circumferential surface by another static remover located upstream of the one static remover in the movement direction.