Patent ID: 8023849

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image carrier that carries an image; a transfer roller including a holder member that holds a transfer material, a groove portion in which the holder member is disposed, and an elastic member disposed over the transfer roller except a portion where the groove portion is disposed, the elastic member of the transfer roller is pressed onto the image carrier to transfer the image from the image carrier onto the transfer material; and a gate roller that transports the transfer material to the holder member, wherein a circumferential velocity v 1 (mm/sec) of the elastic member of the transfer roller is lower than a moving speed v 2 (mm/sec) of the transfer material transported by the gate roller, wherein a secondary circumferential velocity v 3 (mm/sec) of the elastic member of the transfer roller is higher than the circumferential velocity v 1 (mm/sec) and is lower than the moving speed v 2 (mm/sec) of the transfer material, the secondary circumferential velocity v 3 (mm/sec) is a speed at which the elastic material of the transfer roller does not contact the image carrier.