Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image bearing member to bear a toner image and a toner pattern comprising toner not to be transferred onto a recording medium for adjustment of a density of toner on an image bearing surface of the image bearing member;
• an image forming unit disposed opposite the image bearing member, to form the toner image and the toner pattern on the image bearing surface of the image bearing member, the toner pattern being formed on the image bearing member at predetermined timing;
• a nip forming member to contact the image bearing surface of the image bearing member to form a transfer nip therebetween;
• a transfer bias applicator to apply a transfer bias in which an alternating current component and a direct current component are superimposed to transfer the toner image onto the recording medium in the transfer nip, the transfer bias applicator applying a charge eliminating bias to remove charge from toner in the toner pattern when the toner pattern passes through the transfer nip;
• and
• a first cleaning device to mechanically remove toner remaining on the image bearing member after the image bearing member passes through the transfer nip.