Image-forming apparatus having an approach and separation mechanism

Abstract

An image-forming apparatus includes: an image carrier; a latent image-forming unit for forming a latent image on the image carrier; a cleaning unit including a residue removal member a residue transport member; a residue collecting unit having an receiving port adapted to be able to connect to and be away from the ejecting port and to receive the residue ejected from the ejection port; a shield member capable of shifting between an ejection position and a shield position; and an approach and separation mechanism that moves the latent image-forming unit between an approach position where the latent image-forming unit approaches the image carrier and a separate position where the latent image-forming unit is separated from the image carrier, the approach and separation mechanism allowing the latent image-forming unit to move to the separation position as the shield member shifts to the shield position.