An image forming apparatus includes an image holder; a developing device that creates a toner image by developing a latent image held on the image holder; and an application member that scrapes a lubricant from a solid lubricant and applies the scraped lubricant onto the image holder, wherein a surface of the application member is a fabric member that holds toner.

A liquid electro-photographic, LEP, printing system, comprising a photo imaging plate, PIP, an intermediate transfer member, ITM, and a control unit. The control unit causes the system to initiate a maintenance program, wherein the maintenance program comprises driving the PIP and the ITM while disabling particle transfer to the PIP and applying a voltage difference between the PIP and surface portions of

An example method of performing a null cycle in a liquid electrographic printer is described. The method involves collecting, at a photo imaging plate cleaning station, imaging oil deposited on a photo imaging plate during a print cycle. During a null cycle, the photo imaging plate cleaning station is controlled to apply the collected imaging oil to the photo imaging plate.

A cartridge includes a cleaning member configured to retain specific particles having a smaller equivalent sphere diameter than toner particles at a contact region. The specific particles contain an organosilicon polymer having a partial structure represented by RSiO.sub.3/2, wherein R represents an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms. The atomic concentration dSi of silicon in the specific particles satisfies 1.0 atomic %dSi29.0 atomic % when the total atomic concentration of silicon, oxygen, and carbon in the specific particles is measured to be 100.0 atomic % by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA). Also, the specific particles satisfy L2/L33/4 or L2/L34/3 when assuming that the specific particles have three lengths L1, L2, and L3 in three axis directions in a three-dimensional coordinate system, wherein L1 is the longest one of the three lengths, in an average value of a unit volume.

An example lubricant applying device includes a rotatable applicator, a solid lubricant source to supply lubricant to the applicator, an urging member to urge the lubricant source to contact the applicator, and a guide member to restrict an urging of the lubricant source along a displacement direction. In a transverse cross section of the lubricant applying device that is taken orthogonally to a rotation axis of the applicator, a reference line extends from a contact surface of the lubricant source to the rotation axis of the applicator, in a direction parallel to the displacement direction of the guide member. In the transverse cross section, the lubricant source has a width that is substantially orthogonal to the displacement direction. The lubricant source is positioned to offset a widthwise center of the lubricant source to a downstream side of the reference line, in the rotational direction of the applicator.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member on which an electrostatic latent image is formable, and a developing device including a developer carrying member, a container, and a supply roller. When the developing device including the developer carrying member, to which a lubricant different from the developer is applied, is used for the first time, a first initial operation of transferring the lubricant from the developer carrying member to the image bearing member together with the developer is performed. The image forming apparatus further includes a storage unit configured to store a suspension state when suspension is detected before the initial operation completes, and a controller configured to execute a second initial operation as an operation of resuming the suspended first initial operation on the basis of the stored suspension state.

An image forming apparatus includes: a lubricant supply section that supplies a lubricant of a lubricant rod extending along an axial direction of an image bearing member onto the image bearing member; and a hardware processor that controls displacement of a sheet conveyance member so as to displace a sheet along a width direction of the sheet. The hardware processor performs control of changing a position in the axial direction of the toner image formed on the image bearing member on the basis of a distribution status of a toner in the axial direction in a toner image formed on the image bearing member, and controls displacement of the sheet conveyance member after a tip end of the sheet in the conveyance direction enters the transfer section so that a sheet position in a width direction of an image transferred onto the sheet is correct in the transfer section.

A lubricant solid contains, in a content of 92 mass % or more and 100 mass % or less, a lubricant having a polygonal network bond structure.

An electrophotographic image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier that carries and conveys a toner image; a charging member arranged in contact with or close to the image carrier; a charging power supply that charges the image carrier; an exposurer that forms a latent image on the charged image carrier; a developing member arranged close to the image carrier; a developing power supply that develops the latent image and forms a toner image on the image carrier; a transfer member that transfers the toner image to a medium; and a hardware processor that controls the image forming apparatus, wherein the hardware processor obtains a potential of an exposure part and a non-exposure part, on the image carrier after the toner image has been transferred to the medium, determines a charging bias based on a difference between the obtained potentials, and determines a developing bias based on the determined charging bias.

An image formation apparatus having a lubricant application apparatus applying lubricant to an image carrier in an image former, in which the lubricant application apparatus includes: a lubricant stick; an application member disposed on an upstream side in an advancing direction of the image carrier surface with respect to a cleaning apparatus pressing lubricant supplied to the image carrier to form a film, supplying lubricant scraped off from the lubricant stick to the image carrier, and removing residual toner adhering to the image carrier; and a recovery member in contact with the application member, and recovering toner adhering to the application member, and the image formation apparatus includes a hardware processor controlling a lubricant amount on the image carrier by changing each of removability of residual toner on the image carrier by the application member, and recoverability of residual toner on the application member by the recovery member.