Importance

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Abstract

The present invention provides an improved fixing apparatus capable of reliably releasing a sheet having toner fixed thereon from a fixing belt without any releasing pawl even in large-sized sheets. The fixing apparatus includes a fixing roller, a pressing roller in rotational contact with the fixing roller, a biasing member for applying a biasing force to the pressing roller so as to bring the pressing roller into press contact with the fixing roller at a given pressure, a heating roller disposed apart from the fixing roller, a fixing belt wound around both the heating and fixing rollers in an endless manner, and a heat-generating device embedded in the heating roller to heat the fixing belt so as to heat unfixed toner on a sheet passing through a rotational contact region between the fixing and pressing rollers, whereby when the sheet having unfixed toner on a surface thereof is passed through the rotational contact region along one direction, the unfixed toner is fixed onto the sheet. In this fixing apparatus, an interior angle .theta. between an axis X and an axis Y is arranged to satisfy the following relationship, -30.degree.<.theta.<-80.degree. where X is an axis connecting the center of the fixing roller and the center of the pressing roller, and Y is an axis along a biasing direction in which the pressing roller applies the biasing force to the fixing roller in the rotational contact region, wherein on the basis of the axis X, a positive sign is provided to the angle .theta. when the axis Y is located on a sheet-feed side where the sheet is fed into the rotational contact region.

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First Claim