US Patent 7565100 Electrophotographic apparatus and intermediate transfer member partitioned by multiple slits

An image forming apparatus including an image carrier on which a toner image is formed, a charging unit that charges a surface of the image carrier, a latent image processing unit that forms a latent image on the surface of the image carrier, a developing unit that develops the latent image using a toner, thereby forming a toner image, a primary transfer unit that conducts a primary transfer of the toner image to an intermediate transfer member, and a secondary transfer unit that conducts a secondary transfer of the toner image that has been transferred to the intermediate transfer member to a transfer target, wherein a surface of the intermediate transfer member is partitioned by multiple slits.