Patent ID: 8175479

Claim:
A transfer device comprising: an intermediate transfer member that moves endlessly; an image carrier that comes into contact with an outer surface of the intermediate transfer member to form a first transfer nip; a first contacting member that is applied with a first transfer bias and that comes in contact with an inner surface of the intermediate transfer member in the first transfer nip or near the first transfer nip; a second transfer nip forming member that comes into contact with the outer surface of the intermediate transfer member to form a second transfer nip; and a second contacting member that is applied with a second transfer bias and that comes into contact with the inner surface of the intermediate transfer member in the second transfer nip or near the second transfer nip, wherein a closest distance between a surface of the image carrier and a surface of the first contacting member is greater than a thickness of the intermediate transfer member, and a toner image on the image carrier is transferred directly onto the intermediate transfer member, or transferred onto a toner image that has already been transferred onto the intermediate transfer member to form a superimposed toner image on the intermediate transfer member, and the superimposed toner image on the intermediate transfer member is transferred onto a recording medium at the second transfer nip.