Patent ID: 7778573

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image carrier; a toner image forming unit configured to form a toner image having a predetermined polarity on the image carrier; an intermediate transfer body facing the image carrier; a primary transfer member configured to transfer the toner image on the image carrier onto the intermediate transfer body; a secondary transfer member configured to transfer the toner image on the intermediate transfer body onto a recording medium; and a contacting member that contacts the image carrier and is configured to remove residual toner remaining on the image carrier after the toner image is transferred by the primary transfer member onto the intermediate transfer body and to pass the removed residual toner to the intermediate transfer body, wherein a bias voltage with a same polarity as the predetermined polarity of the toner image is applied to the contacting member, and the contacting member is disposed adjacent to the intermediate transfer body around a periphery of the image carrier.