Image formation apparatus

Claim 1

An electrophotographic image formation apparatus which comprises a photoconductor comprising a substrate, a photoconductive layer provided on said substrate, and a protective layer formed directly or via an intermediate layer on said photoconductive layer, wherein said apparatus further comprises: (a) first charging means for performing a first charging by which the surface of said photoconductor is uniformly charged, (b) means for exposing the charged surface of said photoconductor to light images to form latent electrostatic images corresponding to said light images on said photoconductor, (c) means for developing said latent electrostatic images to form toner images, (d) means for transferring said toner images to a transfer sheet, (e) means for cleaning the surface of said photoconductor to remove residual toners therefrom, (f) means for fixing said toner images to said transfer sheet, (g) a quenching lamp for quenching residual charges remaining on a surface of said photoconductor, and (h) second charging means for performing a second charging with a polarity opposite to that of the charge applied by said first charging means to prevent a gradual increase of residual charges in said photoconductor which can result from the use of said protective layer, said second charging means located downstream of said means for cleaning and upstream of said first charging means with respect to a direction of movement of said photoconductor, said second charging means thereby preventing a degradation of image quality which can result from a gradual build up of residual charges.