An image forming apparatus includes a belt-shaped image bearer, a transferer, a guide, two rotators, and a support. The image bearer has an image bearing surface to bear an image thereon. The transferer forms a transfer section between the transferer and the image hearer, to transfer the image onto a recording medium. The guide is disposed upstream from the transfer section in a delivery direction of the recording medium, to guide the recording medium toward the transfer section. The two rotators are disposed upstream from the transfer section in a moving direction of the image bearer and in contact with a non-image bearing surface of the image bearer opposite to the image bearing surface, a first rotator being closer to the transfer section than a second rotator. The support supports the first rotator and the guide and adjusts a position of the first rotator and a position of the guide.

An image forming apparatus includes a toner image carrier on which a toner image is formed, a transfer unit that transfers the toner image onto a continuous sheet of paper, a fixing machine that fixes the transferred toner image onto the continuous sheet of paper, a sheet transport unit that transports the continuous sheet of paper through a transport path passing through a transfer position and a fixing position, and an electric charge supply unit that is disposed at a position at which the continuous sheet of paper is placed between the toner image carrier and the electric charge supply unit and that supplies electric charge having an orientation, in which transfer by the transfer unit is prevented, to a toner image present in a region on the toner image carrier, which is out of the continuous sheet of paper.

An image forming apparatus includes multiple image carriers for carrying toner images of different colors; an intermediate transfer body for carrying the toner images transferred from the multiple image carriers; a second transfer part for transferring the toner images carried by the intermediate transfer body to a recording medium at a second transfer position; and a charge-applying part for applying a charge having a same polarity as a charging polarity of toner used to form the toner images to at least one of a leading end and a trailing end of the recording medium in a transport direction, at a position on an upstream side of the second transfer part in the transport direction of the recording medium.

An image forming apparatus includes: an image carrier carrying a toner image; a transfer unit disposed to contact the image carrier and transferring the toner image carried on the image carrier to a recording medium; and a gap forming unit that forms a gap between the image carrier and the transfer unit when one or more regions of the recording medium are positioned between the image carrier and the transfer unit. The one or more regions include at least one of a leading end and a trailing end of the recording medium. The image forming apparatus further includes an electric charge applying unit disposed on an upstream side of the transfer unit and applies electric charges to the one or more regions of the recording medium. The electric charges have an opposite polarity to a charging polarity of a toner which forms the toner image.

A transfer-section contamination prevention device includes: a powder housing section that is disposed on an upstream side relative to a transfer section in a sheet conveyance direction, and is capable of holding powder at a position near an end portion of a sheet in a sheet width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction or capable of guiding the powder to the position near the end portion of the sheet, the sheet including a base material layer, a release layer and an adhesive layer containing adhesive agent disposed between the base material layer and the release layer, the transfer section being configured to transfer a toner image to the sheet; and a powder adhesion facilitation section configured to facilitate adhesion of the powder to the lateral end portion of the sheet from the powder housing section.

An image forming apparatus includes a belt-shaped image bearer, a transferer, a guide unit, and a plurality of contact members. The belt-shaped image bearer has an image bearing surface to bear an image thereon. The transferer forms a transfer section between the transferer and the image bearer, to transfer the image onto a recording medium. The guide unit is disposed upstream from the transfer section in a delivery direction of the recording medium, to guide the recording medium toward the transfer section. The plurality of contact members are disposed side by side at positions opposing the guide unit and in contact with a non image bearing surface of the image bearer opposite to the image bearing surface.

An image forming apparatus includes: a conveyance section configured to convey a sheet in a direction opposite to a first conveyance direction during image formation, the direction being a second conveyance direction; and a distortion correction section disposed on an upstream side of a transfer nip in the first conveyance direction and configured to correct, when the sheet is conveyed by the conveyance section in the second conveyance direction, distortion of the sheet generated when the sheet passes through a fixing nip.

A printing device is described in which there is a media guide that is arranged to guide a printable media substrate from an upstream media path towards an input of the printing device or away from an output of the printing device towards a downstream media path. The media guide is movable between a first position and a second position. In the first position the media guide is arranged to guide the printable media along a respective media path. In the second position, which is spaced apart from the first position, the media guide forms a buffer region into which a variable amount of media substrate can collect.

An image forming apparatus includes an image former and a flattener. The image former forms an image on a recording medium. The flattener is disposed upstream of the image former in a conveying direction of the recording medium, and flattens the recording medium before the image former forms the image on the recording medium.

A heat exchange unit and a printing system containing the heat exchange unit, including a heat exchange region, a first print media transport path configured for transporting in operation a first print medium from a supply through the heat exchange, the heat exchange unit further containing a stationary heat exchange member, having a first side facing said first print media transport path and a second opposite side facing said second print media transport path, wherein, in operation, the second print medium is at an elevated temperature with respect to the first print medium and wherein, the first and second print medium have a heat exchange contact in the heat exchange region.