Patent ID: 7162178

Claim:
A transfer device comprising: an endless transfer carrier entrained about plural support members and movable along a looped path; a bias applying section operative to selectively apply transfer bias or cleaning bias to the transfer carrier; an auxiliary cleaning member operative to temporarily attract thereto toner adhering to the transfer carrier; a control section for executing a transfer operation including an operation for causing the bias applying section to apply the transfer bias to the transfer carrier so as to transfer toner from a surface of an image carrier to a recording sheet being transported by the transfer carrier, and an operation for causing the auxiliary cleaning member to attract thereto toner adhering to the transfer carrier, and an accumulating section operative to accumulate transfer execution time periods as an accumulated value, wherein the control section is operative to initiate a cleaning operation including returning the toner attracted to the auxiliary cleaning member to the image carrier via the transfer carrier when the accumulated value reaches a predetermined value.