Patent ID: 7395010

Claim:
An image forming apparatus adapted to perform an operation for forming an electrostatic latent image on a surface of a photoconductor supported rotatably about a longitudinal axis thereof, attaching toner onto the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image, and transferring the toner image onto a transfer member to form a printed image thereon, comprising: charging means disposed on an upstream side of a position for forming said electrostatic latent image, with respect to a rotation direction of said photoconductor, and adapted to electrostatically charge the surface of said photoconductor approximately uniformly; transfer means for transferring said toner image from the surface of said photoconductor to a transfer member; and charge removing means provided with a light source for emitting given charge-removing light therefrom, and adapted to irradiate the surface of said photoconductor with the charge-removing light from said light source, at a position between said transfer means and said charging means with respect to the rotation direction of said photoconductor, so as to perform a charge removal operation, said charge removing means being designed to allow a distance between said light source and the surface of said photoconductor to be adjusted.