Image Forming Apparatus

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image bearing member;
• a developing device to develop a latent image formed on the image bearing member by a two-component developer comprising a toner and a magnetic carrier;
• a transfer section to transfer a toner image formed on the bearing member onto a receiving member, and
• a carrier recovery section which is equipped with a recovery roller, the recovery roller being arranged in the rotational direction of the image bearing member and being disposed at such a position that is opposite to the image bearing member in a non-contact state downstream of the developing device and upstream of the transfer section, and a separating member to guide any magnetic carrier separated from the recovery roller,
• wherein the carrier recovery roller comprises a sleeve which is rotatable, and a magnet roller that is installed into an inner space of the sleeve and is provided with a plurality of fixed magnetic poles, the plurality of fixed magnetic poles comprises a main pole to recover the magnetic carrier from the image bearing member and a separating pole to separate the magnetic carrier from the recovery roller, wherein the separating member is disposed at such a position that is opposite to the sleeve at a prescribed distance from the sleeve in a non-contact state.