Abstract: An image forming apparatus having a sheet transporting path which is arranged by a pair of guide members openable each other. The image forming apparatus is separated into a first unit including a photosensitive member and a second unit by the sheet transporting path. A force exerting member is provided on either one of the guide members and exerts a force on a sheet present in the sheet transporting path to remain the sheet on the guide member which is disposed on the second unit side.

Abstract: A copying machine of the present invention is constructed such that, when a toner in a toner containing portion provided in a developing unit is emptied, a toner supply container whose opening for supplying toner is sealed is mounted in the toner containing portion. An opening member for unsealing the opening for supplying the toner of the toner supply container is included in the toner containing portion, so that the toner can be replenished without staining the surroundings, and since the toner can be replenished only at frequencies restricted in advance, deterioration of copying quality can be avoided.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus allowing a main assembly thereof to be interchangeably loaded with a first unit and a second unit. The first unit cooperates with a mechanism disposed in the main assembly to copy an image of a given document by the electrophotographic copying process. The second unit cooperates with a mechanism disposed in the main assembly to reproduce an image on a paper by the thermal transfer printing process. When image data from a facsimile or a word processor are transmitted to a thermal head in the second unit, an image can be reproduced on the paper based on the image data.