Patent ID: 7885582

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image holder, a plurality of developing devices, a plurality of developing material cartridges and a plurality of developing material conveyance units; wherein each of the plurality of developing devices develops a latent image formed on the image holder with developing material and is stacked in a gravitational direction; each of the plurality of developing material cartridges has a supply developing material container to contain developing material, and is provided in a direction approximately orthogonal to each of the plurality of developing devices and is stacked in a gravitational direction; and each of the plurality of developing material conveyance units has a connection portion connected to the developing device, that conveys the developing material from the supply developing material container to the developing device, at least a part of the connection portion is provided within a heightwise directional width of the developing material cartridge wherein each of the plurality of developing material cartridges further has a collected developing material container that contains developing material collected from the image holder.