Image forming apparatus with recovery device for recovering color developers

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image forming device which separates image information into color information items of yellow, magenta, cyan and black, which scans information light on a rotating image carrier for exposure in accordance with the separated color information items and which sequentially forms electrostatic latent images of respective colors;
• developing units of yellow, magenta, cyan and black which sequentially feed developers of the respective colors to the electrostatic latent images of the respective colors formed by the image forming device, at a developing position, to develop the electrostatic latent images;
• a rotation member which retains the developing units of the plurality of colors along a rotating direction and which rotates to sequentially move the developing units to the developing position;
• an intermediate transfer member which sequentially superposes and transfers the developer images formed on the image carrier and which transfers the superposed and transferred developer images together to an image-transferred member;
• and
• a recovery device which temporarily recovers the developers of the respective colors that are left on the image carrier after the developer images of the respective colors are transferred to the intermediate transfer member, and which returns the recovered developers together onto the image carrier,
• wherein the developing unit of black is moved to the developing position to recover together the developers of the respective colors returned from the recovery device onto the image carrier.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image forming device which separates image information into a plurality of color information items, which scans information light on a rotating image carrier for exposure in accordance with the separated color information items and which sequentially forms electrostatic latent images of respective colors;
• developing units of a plurality of colors which sequentially feed developers of the respective colors to the electrostatic latent images of the respective colors formed by the image forming device, at a developing position, to develop the electrostatic latent images;
• a rotation member which retains the developing units of the plurality of colors along a rotating direction and which rotates to sequentially move the developing units to the developing position;
• and
• an intermediate transfer member which sequentially superposes and transfers the developer images formed on the image carrier and which transfers the superposed and transferred developer images together to an image-transferred member,
• wherein, at the developing position, the developing units develop the electrostatic latent images and recover the residual developers that are left on the image carrier when the developer images are transferred from the image carrier to the intermediate transfer member, and
• wherein the rotation member stops rotation and allows the developing units that develop the electrostatic latent images at the developing position to stand by at the developing position until the developing units recover the residual developers.