An example lubricant application device includes a rotatable applicator to apply a lubricant from a solid lubricant source to a rotating member, a support member to support the solid lubricant source in contact with the rotatable applicator, a near-end detection member and an end detection member coupled to the support member. The near-end detection member is coupled to the support member such that it comes in contact with the rotatable applicator after a first amount of the solid lubricant source has been consumed. The end detection member is coupled to the support member such that it comes in contact with the rotatable applicator after a second amount of the solid lubricant source has been consumed.

In an example of the disclosure, an imaging oil is applied upon a photoconductor surface. An element is brought into contact with the imaging oil at the photoconductor surface. The element has a first refractive index that is within a predefined tolerance of a second refractive index of the imaging oil. The photoconductor surface is exposed to light emitted by a writing component. The light passes through the element and the imaging oil.

A lubricant replacement case for an image forming apparatus includes a housing including a plurality of storage compartments to accommodate at least one lubricant unit. The plurality of storage compartments include at least one storage compartment for unused lubricant to be inserted into the image forming apparatus and at least one storage compartment for used lubricant to be retrieved from the image forming apparatus.

Provided is an image forming apparatus including: a transfer member; a first image carrier on which a first toner image using toner of a first color is formed; a second image carrier which is provided on a downstream side relative to the first image carrier in a moving direction (rotating direction) of the transfer member, and on which a second toner image using toner of a second color is formed; a lubricant supply section that supplies a lubricant to the second image carrier; and a control section that controls a supply amount of the lubricant to the second image carrier in accordance with an overlap amount between the first toner image and the second toner image which are transferred from the first image carrier and the second image carrier to the transfer member.

An image forming apparatus includes: a photosensitive drum; a light guide plate that irradiates, onto the photosensitive drum, light incoming through an end thereof by emitting the light from an irradiation end surface thereof; a static elimination light source that is disposed near the end of the light guide plate and emits the light into the light guide plate; and a blocking wall that is disposed between the light guide plate and the photosensitive drum to cover the irradiation end surface, and restricts the light emitted from the irradiation end surface non-uniformly in a longitudinal direction of the light guide plate. Of the light emitted from the irradiation end surface, portions emitted from end regions located around ends of the light guide plate are less restricted by the blocking wall than a portion emitted from a region other than the end regions of the light guide plate.

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a toner supply unit, an application roller adjacent to the image carrier, a toner measuring unit, and a control unit. The toner supply unit supplies toner to the image carrier. The application roller applies a lubricant to the image carrier. The toner measuring unit measures an amount of toner transferred from the image carrier to the application roller. The control unit adjusts the supply of toner to be supplied to the image carrier in accordance with the amount of toner measured by the toner measuring unit.

A lubricant application device includes an application roller with application bristles radially arranged about an outer circumferential surface thereof for receiving a lubricant from a lubricant supply source and applying the lubricant to a photosensitive body A minimum distance between the outer circumferential surface of the application roller and the photosensitive body is shorter than a length of the application bristles. The lubricant application device has a drive unit for rotating the application roller and a controller for controlling the drive unit. The controller is adapted to control the drive unit to counteract a bristle-bending tendency of the application bristles.

An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member, a light source, a light guiding unit including a light guiding member, a casing portion provided with a first through-hole, and a sheet-like elastic member provided with a second through-hole. The light guiding unit penetrates the first through-hole and the second through-hole, and one end portion of the light guiding unit opposes the light source and is positioned inside the casing portion. At a flat surface of the light guiding unit perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the light guiding unit, an area of the second through-hole is smaller than an area of the light guiding unit.

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 image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member, a charging member, a developing member, a cleaning member, an accommodating portion, and a controller capable of executing an image forming operation and a supplying operation for supplying a metal soap, accommodated in the accommodating portion, onto a surface of the image bearing member by the developing member. The controller carries out control so that when the supplying operation is executed, a surface moving speed of the image bearing member is higher than a surface moving speed of the image bearing member when the image forming operation is executed.