US Patent 7751753 Cleanerless image forming apparatus

A cleanerless image forming apparatus configured to reduce the density unevenness of halftone images. The apparatus includes a photosensitive member, a charging roller device for uniformly charging the surface of the photosensitive member, an optical writing unit for forming latent images on the surface of the photosensitive member after uniform charging, a developing device for developing the latent toner image on the photosensitive member, a transfer unit for transferring the toner image to an intermediate transfer belt, and a brush member for trapping post-transfer residual toner adhering to the surface of the photosensitive member after passing through the transfer process by the transfer unit and before entering the developing process by the developing device, wherein the post-transfer residual toner is recovered within the developing device after re-transfer of the post-transfer residual toner within the brush member to the surface of the photosensitive member.