Cleanerless image forming apparatus

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes a movable image bearing member; an electrostatic image forming device for forming an electrostatic image on the image bearing member, the electrostatic image forming device including a charging member, contactable to the image bearing member, for charging the image bearing member; developing device for developing the electrostatic image with toner to form a toner image on the image bearing member; a transfer device for transferring the toner image onto the transfer material from the image bearing member, wherein the developing device is capable of cleaning the image bearing member to remove residual toner from the image bearing member, without provision of cleaning device for removing the residual toner from the image bearing member at a position upstream of the charging member and downstream of the transfer device with respect to a moving direction of the image bearing member; and a charge application device, provided upstream of the charging member and downstream of the transfer device with respect to the movement direction, for charging the residual toner on the image bearing member to a polarity opposite from charging polarity of the charging member.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.