Image forming apparatus and developing unit thereof

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a photosensitive body;
• a laser scanning unit to form an electrostatic latent image by scanning light to the photosensitive body;
• and
• plural developing devices arranged along a rotational direction of the photosensitive body,
• wherein the plural developing devices include a first developing device including a first developer storage portion having a first volume, a second developing device including a second developer storage portion having a second volume smaller than the first volume, and at least one third developing device including a third developer storage portion having a third volume smaller than the second volume, and
• the second developing device is disposed in a most downstream side with respect to the rotational direction of the photosensitive body.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• plural developing devices respectively including photosensitive bodies and supplying developers to the respective photosensitive bodies;
• a laser scanning unit to form electrostatic latent images by scanning light to the respective photosensitive bodies;
• and
• an intermediate transfer body to hold images transferred from the photosensitive bodies,
• wherein the plural developing devices include a first developing device including a first developer storage portion having a first volume, a second developing device including a second developer storage portion having a second volume smaller than the first volume, and at least one third developing device including a third developer storage portion having a third volume smaller than the second volume, and
• the second developing device is disposed in a most downstream side with respect to a rotational direction of the intermediate transfer body.

A developing unit usable with an image forming apparatus to supply a developer to a rotating image carrier, the developer unit comprising:

• plural developing devices arranged parallel and adjacent to each other along a rotational direction of the image carrier, the plural developing devices include:
• a first developing device having a largest first developer storage capacity;
• and
• a second developing device disposed in a most downstream side with respect to the rotational direction of the image carrier and having a second developer storage capacity smaller than the first developer storage capacity of the first developing device and larger than respective developer storage capacities of remaining developing devices.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• a photosensitive body to receive an electrostatic latent image;
• a laser scanning unit to form the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive body;
• a cleaning unit to remove a residual developer on the photosensitive body;
• and
• a plurality of developer devices having respective developer storage capacities, one of the developer devices to supply a developer to the electrostatic latent image to form a developer image for lubrication to reduce friction between the photosensitive body and the cleaning unit,
• wherein a respective developer storage capacity of the one developer device is greater than an other respective storage capacity of at least one of an other developer device.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image carrier;
• and
• a plurality of developing devices arranged along a portion of the image carrier, a developing device among the plurality of developing devices which is furthest down stream of a rotation direction of the image carrier having a larger storage capacity than other ones of the plurality of developing devices,
• wherein the developing device furthest downstream of the rotation direction of the image carrier contains a developer which provides a lubrication to the image carrier.