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.

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.

A device disposed opposing an image bearer includes a roller to rotate while contacting a surface of the image bearer, a rolling bearing fitted around a shaft located at an end of the roller in an axial direction of the roller, a frame to house the roller, and a bearing support removably attached to the frame. The rolling bearing includes an outer ring, an inner ring, and a rolling element disposed between the outer ring and the inner ring. The bearing support holds, from an outer-ring side, the rolling bearing interposed between the bearing support and the frame. The bearing support includes a receiving portion to contact the outer ring of the rolling bearing and bias the rolling bearing toward the frame in a direction in which the rolling bearing is interposed between the bearing support and the frame.

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 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 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.

The image forming apparatus includes the control unit that causes a supply operation that forms a predetermined toner image and supplies toner of the predetermined toner image to a contact portion between the cleaning member and the photosensitive member at a non-image forming time. During at least a period in which toner of the predetermined toner image on the photosensitive member passes through the transfer unit during the supply operation, the control unit causes application of a pass-through voltage that is a voltage having the same polarity as the normal charge polarity of the toner and whose absolute value is less than an electric potential of a portion that is exposed by the exposure device of the photosensitive member, or that is a voltage with a reverse polarity to the normal charge polarity of the toner to be applied from the transfer power supply to the transfer member.

A solid lubricant containing a fatty acid metal salt and a polyethylene having an acid value is prepared. The solid lubricant is disposed so as to be applied on a surface of an image bearing member of an image forming apparatus in electrophotography, and a lubricant layer is formed on the surface of the image bearing member with the solid lubricant.

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier and a charge removing portion. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the image carrier. The charge removing portion includes: a light source configured to emit light to be used for removing charge from the image carrier; a light concentrating portion configured to concentrate the light emitted from the light source on a surface of the image carrier; and a light source supporting portion formed integrally with the light concentrating portion and supporting the light source at a supporting position in which the light source and the light concentrating portion have a predetermined positional relationship.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a developer bearing member, a fixing unit including a heating member, a rotary member which is heated by the heating member, and a nip area where the rotary member comes into contact with a sheet, and configured to perform fixing by heating a developer image transferred to the sheet and fixing the developer image to the sheet in the nip area, and a control unit configured to execute, while the fixing is not performed, a mode in which the image bearing member is rotated with the developer bearing member being in a separated position and the heating member is controlled such that a temperature of a portion of a surface of the rotary member, after the rotary member passes through the nip area, is maintained higher than the temperature of the portion during the fixing.