Method and apparatus for image forming capable of using minuscule spherical particles of toner, a process cartridge in use for the apparatus and a toner used in the image forming for obtaining an image with a high thin line reproducibility

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• means for bearing a toner image;
• means for charging a surface of the means for bearing;
• means for transferring a toner image from the means for bearing to an image receiver;
• means for cleaning the surface of the means for bearing after the toner image is transferred to the image receiver;
• and
• means for supplying a powder lubricant to the surface of the means for bearing, the means for supplying comprising a lubricant housing and a lubricating blade configured to form a thin layer, the powder lubricant comprising at least one of a powder particle having a volume-based average particle diameter from greater than 0.1 mm to approximately 3.0 mm and disposed in the lubricant housing in contact with the lubricating blade prior to being supplied to the surface of the means for bearing, the means for supplying disposed between the means for cleaning and the means for charging.

A method of image forming, comprising:

• providing an image bearing member in an image forming apparatus;
• uniformly charging a surface of the image bearing member using a charging mechanism;
• forming a toner image on a surface of the image bearing member;
• transferring the toner image using an intermediate transfer mechanism from the image bearing member to an image receiver;
• cleaning the surface of the image bearing member using a cleaning mechanism after the toner image is transferred onto the image receiver;
• supplying a powder lubricant contained in a lubricant supplying mechanism onto the surface of the image bearing member, the lubricant supplying mechanism comprising a lubricant housing and a lubricating blade configured to form a thin layer, the powder lubricant comprising at least one of a powder particle having a volume-based average particle diameter from greater than 0.1 mm to approximately 3.0 mm and disposed in the lubricant housing in contact with the lubricating blade prior to being supplied to the surface of the image bearing member;
• and
• forming a thin layer using a lubricating blade.

A process cartridge configured to be used in an image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image bearing member configured to bear a toner image on a surface thereof;
• at least one image forming component integrally mounted adjacent the image bearing member;
• and
• a lubricant supplying mechanism configured to supply a powder lubricant contained therein onto the surface of the image bearing member, the lubricant supplying mechanism comprising a lubricant housing and a lubricating blade configured to form a thin layer, the powder lubricant comprising at least one of a powder particle having a volume-based average particle diameter from greater than 0.1 mm to approximately 3.0 mm and disposed in the lubricant housing in contact with the lubricating blade prior to being supplied to the surface of the image bearing member,
• wherein the at least one image forming component comprises at least one of a charging unit, a developing unit and a cleaning unit,
• wherein the lubricant supplying mechanism is disposed between the cleaning unit and the charging unit, and
• wherein the process cartridge is configured to be detached from the image forming apparatus.