PURPOSE: To prevent white blank at the copy tip and make it possible to remove electricity at the tip of the transfer material, by providing corona electrodes for auxiliary transfer, transfer, and separation to eliminate the retransfer phenomenon.

CONSTITUTION: Auxiliary transfer corona electrode 5, transfer corona electrode 6, and separation corona electrode 7 are provided, and discharge polarities of respective electrodes are set as shown in table I, and a timer and so on are used to perform the discharge sequence of each electrode by a discharge polarity switching device and so on. In respect to the toner image and photoconductive surface potential after development, the charged polarity of the toner at the tip of the picture is inverted and becomes the + potential. Next, when transfer material 8 reaches transfer electrode 6, only the picture body part is transferred; and when the tip of material 8 reaches electrode 7, the tip toner image is sucked and transferred to the transfer material 8 side. As a result, the retransfer phenomenon can be eliminated, and white blank at the copy tip can be prevented.