An electrophotographic photosensitive member includes a surface layer containing a charge transporting material and a polyester resin having a specific structure.

An object of the present invention is achieved by an electrophotographic photoreceptor containing a conductive support sequentially laminated thereon with at least a photosensitive layer and a protective layer in that order, wherein the protective layer includes a cured composition having a radical polymerizable compound for a binder, a charge transport agent having a radical polymerizable functional group, and a photopolymerization initiator; the charge transport agent having a radical polymerizable functional group has a maximum absorption wavelength in the range of 40550 nm; and the charge transport agent having a radical polymerizable functional group and the photopolymerization initiator satisfy Formula (A),
G=Eox(D/D.sup.+)Ered(A.sup./A)E*0.2 (eV).Formula (A):

An improved organic photoconductor drum having a protective overcoat layer and method to make the same is provided. The protective overcoat layer is prepared from a curable composition including nano metal oxide particles sized less than 400 nm in combination with an urethane acrylate resin having at least 6 functional groups.

An image forming apparatus includes a photoreceptor that includes a conductive substrate, a photosensitive layer, and an inorganic surface layer arranged in that order, the inorganic surface layer containing a group 13 element and oxygen; a charging unit; an electrostatic image-forming unit; a developing unit; a transfer unit; a cleaning unit that performs cleaning by causing the cleaning blade to contact the surface of the photoreceptor; and a supply unit that supplies a fatty acid metal salt to a position where the cleaning blade in the cleaning unit contacts the photoreceptor. When the fatty acid metal salt is supplied, a portion of the surface of the photoreceptor downstream of the supply unit and upstream of the cleaning unit in a rotating direction of the photoreceptor is covered with a metal derived from the fatty acid metal salt at a coverage of about 40% or more.

An image forming apparatus includes a photosensitive member having a surface having elastic deformation power of 47% or more, a charging roller forming a nip between itself and the photosensitive member, and an image forming portion. When a nip region corresponding to the nip is formed and then an area of independent contact portions between the charging member and a measuring contact member is measured, the following relationship is satisfied: (contact width X)(Contact area ratio )0.1, where a length from a position of one end to a position of the other end of the nip region with respect to a direction perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the charging roller is the contact width X, and a ratio of a sum of areas of the independent contact portions to an entire area of a measuring region is the contact area ratio .

Provided is an electrophotographic photosensitive member capable of achieving both high leak resistance and reduction in variations in dark part potential and bright part potential due to repeated use even when CB is used for an electrically conductive layer. An electrophotographic photosensitive member including: a support, an electrically conductive layer, and a photosensitive layer, sequentially, wherein the electrically conductive layer contains a binder resin and carbon black, a number average primary particle diameter of the carbon black is 200 nm or more and 500 nm or less, an average inter-particle distance of the carbon black is 200 nm or more and 600 nm or less, a coefficient of variation of an inter-particle distance is 1.2 or less, and SF-1 of the carbon black is 150 or less.

An improved overcoat layer for an organic photoconductor drum of an electrophotographic image forming device and method to make the same is provided. The overcoat layer is prepared from a curable composition including nano metal oxide particles sized less than 400 nm in combination with an urethane acrylate resin having at least 6 functional groups. This overcoat layer improves wear resistance of the photoconductor drum without negatively altering the electrophotographic properties

A recording device includes: a drive source; a driven portion having a driven gear; a drive transmission mechanism having a drive gear driven by the drive source and capable of swing between a first position where the drive gear is engaged with the driven gear and a second position where the drive gear is not engaged with the driven gear; and a regulating mechanism capable of swing between a regulating position where swing of the drive transmission mechanism is regulated and a non-regulating position where the swing of the drive transmission mechanism is not regulated. In the recording device, the regulating mechanism is capable of swing around a rotation axis of the driven gear.

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising: a conductive support; and a photosensitive layer on the conductive support, wherein the photosensitive layer contains a charge transport substance, a binder resin, and a compound which has a molecular weight of equal to or less than 350, and is represented by General Formula (1).

The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor which is a positive charging type electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising a conductive support and a photosensitive layer on the conductive support, wherein the photosensitive layer contains at least a charge generating material, a hole transport material, an electron transport material, and a binder resin in the same layer, and a residual potential VL.sub.1 at a point at which an exposure amount for forming a latent image is 0.3 ?J/cm.sup.2 is equal to or lower than 130 V when an initial surface potential V0 is set to +700 V, exposure with monochromatic light of 780 nm is performed and measurement is performed by a dynamic method.