An image forming apparatus includes a latent image bearer, an intermediate transferor, a primary transferor, a second transferor, and a cleaning blade. The latent image bearer has a surface onto which a lubricant comprising zinc stearate is supplied. The intermediate transferor has a surface onto which the toner image is transferred, the surface including an adhering region to which the lubricant from the latent image bearer adheres. The cleaning blade cleans the surface of the intermediate transferor including the adhering region, after the toner image is secondarily transferred. In a region outside at least a horizontal A4 sheet passing width on the intermediate transferor, a ratio of a peak area derived from zinc stearate to a peak area derived from the intermediate transferor in a difference spectrum between attenuated total reflection (ATR) infrared absorption spectrums of the intermediate transferor in an unused state and after use is 0.892 or less.

An image forming apparatus includes an electrophotographic photoreceptor that includes a conductive substrate and a photosensitive layer disposed on the conductive substrate, the electrophotographic photoreceptor having an outermost surface layer that contains a binder resin, a charge-transporting material, and a fluorine-containing resin particle, the fluorine-containing resin particle containing 0 or more and 30 or less carboxy groups per 10.sup.6 carbon atoms, a charging device that charges the electrophotographic photoreceptor, an electrostatic latent image forming device that forms an electrostatic latent image on the electrophotographic photoreceptor that is charged, a developing device that houses a developer containing a toner and that develops, with the developer, the electrostatic latent image formed on the electrophotographic photoreceptor into a toner image, a transfer device that transfers the toner image onto a transfer-receiving medium, and an optical discharging device that, after the toner image is transferred onto the transfer-receiving medium and before the electrophotographic photoreceptor is charged, irradiates the electrophotographic photoreceptor with discharging light with a light quantity of 1.0 ?W or more and 50.0 ?W or less to perform discharging.

A cleaning blade for cleaning a rotating body is provided. The cleaning blade includes: an edge layer having a tip portion that comes into contact with the rotating body; and a coating layer on the tip portion of the edge layer. The coating layer contains a first fluorine-based resin and a second fluorine-based resin incompatible with the first fluorine-based resin. The cleaning blade has a Martens hardness of from 0.5 to 3 N/mm.sup.2 at a position 20 ?m distant from a tip edge portion of the edge layer.

A driving device is used in an image reading apparatus, and reciprocates a scanning unit for reading an image on an original. The driving device comprises a pull member, a driving pulley which transmits driving force to the pull member, a following pulley which applies tension to the pull member and a pulley holder having a pulley axis which holds the following pulley rotatably. Then, the pulley axis has a lock pawl capable of locking an upper end portion of the following pulley and canceling engagement with the following pulley by being tilted toward a side of an axial center by elastic deformation. Furthermore, the lock pawl is arranged at a side of a tension acting direction from the pull member to the following pulley except the farthest position from the driving pulley among positions in a circumferential direction of the pulley axis. It is possible to attach and detach the following pulley easily at a time of maintenance or the like.

A solid lubricant to be applied onto an image carrier of an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system, includes a metal soap and resin particles, and the resin particles have a particle main body constituted by a rigid resin other than fluorine-based resins, and fluorine atoms carried on the surface of the particle main body.

A method is described in which a spectrum of a surface of a photoconductor member is obtained using optical spectroscopy; and an extent of oxidation of the surface is determined based on the obtained spectrum.

An image forming apparatus includes a cartridge having an image bearing member and a developer bearing member that bears a developer, and a detection unit configured to detect if the cartridge is new. A lubricant of a polarity opposite to a polarity of the developer is coated on the developer bearing member, and if the cartridge is detected to be new, prior to start of an image forming operation, a discharging operation of discharging the lubricant from a surface of the developer bearing member onto the image bearing member is performed. When a predetermined time elapses from a start of the discharging operation and before an end of the discharging operation, a potential difference between a surface potential of the image bearing member and a surface potential of the developer bearing member is set smaller than when the discharging operation is started.

An apparatus is provided for controlling a liquid electrophotography printer (LEP). The LEP may include a plurality of ink developers, IDs, to transfer charged ink to a photoreceptor, by virtue of a potential difference between the engaged ID and the photoreceptor selectively dischargeable to allow an image to be formed on a print medium in use through printing a spread of plural colour separations thereon each corresponding to ink from one of a plurality of engaged IDs. the apparatus may comprise a print controller to, in use monitor an order of colour separations to be printed onto the print medium. The print controller may also detect in the order of colour separations an empty separation of an ID followed by a printing separation of the same ID, an empty separation representing a separation in which no image is formed on the photoreceptor and the engaged ID is at a voltage different to the voltage of the ID for a printing separation so as to, in the empty separation, substantially wet the photoreceptor and substantially not transfer ink thereto. The print controller may also, in response to the detection, replace in the order of the colour separations the ID for the empty separation with a different ID.

An image forming apparatus, based on print target image data, obtains a video count of a developer unit that forms an image on a photoconductor for each of regions divided in a scanning direction of a laser that exposes the photoconductor. Also after obtaining the video count, halftone processing is performed on the image data. Based on the obtained video count, patch data for cleaning the photoconductor corresponding to each region is generated. The developer unit is controlled to execute image formation based on image data for which the halftone processing is performed, and to execute image formation based on the generated patch data.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a transfer member, a cleaning blade, an information storing member configured to store information on contact pressures of the cleaning blade to the image bearing member, an information input portion, and an executing portion configured to execute a toner supplying operation for supplying toner to the cleaning portion using a toner image formed on the image bearing member, in a period other than a period in which the toner image is formed on the image bearing member, for each predetermined number of image forming operations. On the basis of the information inputted to the input portion, the executing portion sets amounts of the toner supplied to the respective regions in the toner supplying operation.