Patent ID: 7899386

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image carrier configured to carry a toner image; a transferor opposing the image carrier to form a transfer nip and configured to transfer the toner image on the image carrier onto a recording medium at the transfer nip; a fixing unit configured to fix the toner image on the recording medium; and a guide configured to guide the recording medium bearing the toner image from the transferor toward the fixing unit and including a surface portion directly contacting the recording medium, the surface portion including a material configured to charge the recording medium to have a polarity opposite to the polarity of a toner forming the toner image by friction between the surface portion and the recording medium, the guide including a plurality of insulating ribs extending from a base of the guide and arrayed in a direction that is transverse with respect to a conveying direction of the recording medium, and a discharger disposed on a portion of the base of the guide from which the ribs extend and configured to discharge the recording medium immediately after the transferor transfers the toner image onto the recording medium, the discharger including a plurality of discharging teeth that each extend in a direction substantially parallel to the conveying direction of the recording medium, the discharger and the plurality of insulating ribs being positioned such that each of the ribs of the plurality of insulating ribs is disposed between two adjacent discharging teeth of the plurality of discharging teeth.