JP3142370B2 - Fixing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fixing device used in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine,
In order to fix the toner on the transfer paper, a fixing device having a pair of rotating rollers formed by a pressing roller and a pressing roller, which are pressed against each other, is provided.

In such a fixing device, for example, silicone oil as a release agent is applied to the fixing roller by an application felt or an application roller as a release agent application member in order to improve the releasability of the unfixed toner. .

Further, accompanying the release agent applying member,
In order to adjust the amount of oil applied to the fixing roller and to clean foreign matter on the fixing roller, a blade is provided so as to be in contact with the fixing roller at a position downstream of the application felt or the application roller, and this blade is securely attached to the fixing roller. To bring the blade into contact, a constant pressure is applied to the blade by a pressing member such as a spring.

[0005]

Since the release agent applying member is in contact with the fixing roller, the rotational torque of the fixing roller increases, and the increased load causes the fixing roller to be manually rotated during jam clearance. It is a burden when doing it.

In order to reduce the burden in this case, there is an apparatus in which the release agent applying means is separated from the fixing roller. However, the conventional one has a problem that the operation is complicated because the front cover is completely opened and then separated manually.

Further, when the contact state is released, the oil or the cleaned foreign matter which has accumulated at the tip of the release agent applying means remains on the fixing roller, and these adhere to the transfer paper, thereby deteriorating the image quality. And other problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a fixing device which can eliminate the complexity of jam processing and can avoid a decrease in image quality due to contamination of a rotating roller caused by separation of a release agent applying means. do.

[0009]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention to achieve the object, a fixing device used in images forming device, the rollers of a pair of fixing rotating in pressure contact with each other, wherein A release agent application unit that contacts at least one of the rotating rollers; and a contact / separation unit that allows the release agent application unit to come into contact with and separate from the rotation roller. In a fixing device including a coating felt and a blade provided downstream of the coating felt,
The contact / separation unit is configured to swing the release agent applying unit about a fulcrum axis, and the oil application felt and the blade are rotated by interlocking with the opening / closing operation by swinging a front cover of the image forming apparatus. At the same time as the roller is separated from the roller, the rotating roller is reversely rotated according to the swinging operation of the release agent applying unit.

[0010]

[0011]

[0012]

The separating operation is automatically performed in conjunction with a predetermined operation performed when removing jammed paper. In this operation, dirt remaining on the rotating roller is removed by the oil-applied felt.

[0013]

EXAMPLE 1 Example of the Present Invention (see FIGS. 1 to 5) In FIG. 1, the upper fixing roller 1 of a pair of rotating rollers that are pressed against each other and rotates has a heater H inside. The lower pressing roller 2 is pressed against the fixing roller 1 by the pressing means 4.

A separating means 5 for separating the transfer paper, an oil-applied felt 6 as a releasing agent applying means, and a blade 7 for scraping an excessive amount of applied oil are in contact with the peripheral surface of the fixing roller 1. Have been. The blade 7 is located downstream of the oil-applied felt 6.

The oil from the oil tank 8 is supplied to the oil-applied felt 6 through oil supply means 9. The transfer paper enters between the rotating rollers from the right side in the drawing, with the toner image attachment surface facing upward. The transfer paper has the toner image fixed thereon while traveling between the rotating rollers, and is then sent out of the apparatus by the feed roller 3.

The oil coating felt 6, blade 7, oil supply means 8 and the like are formed in a case to form a coating unit 11, and a fulcrum shaft 10 provided at the upper right portion in FIG.
It is rotatable around.

In the fixing device, components other than the coating unit, that is, components including the fixing roller 1 and the pressure roller 2 constitute a fixing unit 12. The fulcrum shaft 10 of the application unit 11 is provided with the oil application felt 6 and the blade 7 when the application unit is rotated clockwise.
And the like are separated from the fixing roller 1 (see FIG. 2) and come into contact with the fixing roller 1 when rotated counterclockwise (see FIG. 1).
It is determined in such a relationship position. Accordingly, the contacting / separating means in this embodiment has a configuration in which the application unit is pivotally attached to the fulcrum shaft 10 so as to be swingable. The contacting / separating means operates in conjunction with a predetermined operation. The predetermined operation is an opening / closing operation of a front cover of an image forming apparatus using the fixing device.

Hereinafter, this interlocking operation will be described. 3 and 4, the coating unit 11 is cantilevered to the side wall of the fixing unit 12 as shown in FIG.

3 and 4, reference numeral 13 denotes the image forming apparatus main body, and reference numeral 13-1 denotes its front cover. The front cover 13-1 can be freely opened and closed via a hinge 13-2.

The fulcrum shaft 10 is fixed to a part of the fixing unit 12 which protrudes in a plate shape. A connecting rod 11-1 protrudes from the application unit 11 from a position below the fulcrum shaft 10 in parallel with the fulcrum shaft 10, and the tip end thereof is engaged with the bracket 14.

The bracket 14 is rotatably inserted and supported by a fulcrum shaft 14-1 (see FIG. 4). The bracket is rotatable around the fulcrum shaft 14-1. One end of the fulcrum shaft 14-1 is fixed to a side plate 13-3 of the image forming apparatus main body. The other end of the fulcrum shaft 14-1 protrudes through the bracket 14, and a gear G4 having a one-way clutch is supported by the protruding portion. This one-way clutch corresponds to the gear G in FIG.
4 does not prevent rotation in the counterclockwise direction, but has a function of preventing rotation in the clockwise direction.

The gear G4 is meshed with a gear G5. The gear G5 is pivotally mounted on the fixing unit 12. The gear G6 is meshed with the gear G5. Gear G6
Is fixed to a shaft 12-1 penetrating the fixing unit 12.

The shaft 12-1 is supported by the fixing unit 12, and a knob 15 for manual rotation is fixed to a portion protruding toward the front cover 13-1. Gear 6 meshes with gear G7. The gear G7 is fixed to the rotation shaft of the fixing roller 1.

On the other hand, a shaft 14-2 is pivotally supported by the bracket 14, and is located at one end of the shaft 14-2.
The gear G3 is fixed at a position where it can mesh with the gear G4.

A gear G2 is fixed to the other end of the shaft 14-2. The gear G1 is located at a position facing the gear G2. The gear G1 is rotatably supported on a shaft having one end fixed to a side plate 13-3 of the image forming apparatus main body in a cantilever manner, and a pulley 16 is rotatably supported coaxially. A belt 17 is hung on the pulley 16.

A pin 13-4 is implanted inside the side plate 13-3 of the image forming apparatus main body, and an elastic spring 18 is hung between the pin 13-4 and the bracket 14. The bracket 14 is supported by the fulcrum shaft 14-1 by the elastic force of the spring.
Is urged to rotate counterclockwise around
Rotation by this urging force is prevented by the bracket abutting on the stopper 19.

When the bracket 14 comes into contact with the stopper 19, the gear G1 is engaged with the gear G2, and at the same time, the gear G4
Gear G3 meshes with. However, FIGS. 3 and 4 show the state when these gears are separated. This separation is performed by rotating the bracket 14 clockwise.

The rotation of the bracket 14 is performed by the front cover 1.
This is linked with the opening operation of 3-1. That is, the free end of the bracket 14 and the portion on the free end side of the front cover 13-1 are connected by the wire 20. This wire 20
Image forming apparatus main body 13, side plate 13 of image forming apparatus main body
It passes through a metallic pipe 21 commonly fixed to 3 and is guided by the pipe.

When the front cover 13-1 is closed, the bracket G is rotated by the force of the spring 18 until the bracket 14 abuts against the stopper, as described above.
The gear G2 meshes with the gear G4, and at the same time, the gear G3 meshes with the gear G4.

Under this condition, the belt 17 is rotated in the direction of the arrow by a driving source (not shown), whereby the gear G1 is rotated in the counterclockwise direction. Gear G
The rotation of No. 1 will be described below with gears G2, G3, G4, G5, G6.
G7 is transmitted in this order, and the fixing roller 1 is rotated clockwise.

As a result, the transfer sheet is sent to the nip portion of the fixing roller, and after fixing, is sent in the sheet discharge direction indicated by arrow 22. Here, considering a case where the transfer paper jams in the nip portion, the power of the apparatus is turned off, and the front cover 13-1 is turned off.
To the front. Then, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the wire 20 is pulled, and the bracket 14 is rotated clockwise against the force of the spring 18, so that the gear G1 and the gear G2 mesh with each other, and the gear G4 And the gear G3 is disengaged.

In this process, the bracket 14 becomes the fulcrum shaft 14
-1 is rotated clockwise around the center. At this time, the rotating power is transmitted to the coating unit 11 via the connecting rod 11-1 in conjunction with the rotation of the bracket. The oil application unit 6 and the blade 7 are separated from the fixing roller 1 as shown in FIG.

Looking at this process in more detail, FIG.
When the bracket 14 rotates clockwise, the gear G4 does not rotate counterclockwise due to the function of the one-way clutch, so when the gear G4 swings together with the bracket, the gear G5 is slightly rotated clockwise. Rotate. For this reason, the gear G7 rotates in the counterclockwise direction, and the fixing roller 1 also reverses for a while. When the fixing roller has rotated to some extent, the oil application felt 6 and the blade 7 are separated from the fixing roller.

If the blade 7 is separated first and then the coating felt 6 is separated at this time, even if the oil accumulated at the tip of the blade is transferred to the fixing roller, it is absorbed by the coating felt 6, which causes a problem. There is no.

As a means for performing such an operation, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the application felt 6 can be separated from the fixing roller 1 by turning on the solenoid SOL1. Similarly, the blade 7 can be separated from the fixing roller 1 by the solenoid SOL2.

Each of these solenoids is connected to the coating unit 11
When these are turned off, the coating felt 6 and the blade 7 come into contact with the fixing roller by their own weight. As shown in FIG. 3, the timing of driving these solenoids is set by reading the identification piece 23 provided in the middle of the wire 20 by the reflection type sensor 24 and by the reading result.

That is, two black bands are marked on the identification piece 23 on a white background. When the front cover 13-1 is opened to the front, the wire 20 moves and the first black band is read, and SOL2 is turned on.
OL1 is turned on.

As described above, the release agent application section (application felt 6) and the cleaning section (blade 7) are independently separated from the fixing roller, and the cleaning section is provided before the release roller application section. As a result, oil dripping onto the fixing roller is prevented.

After the coating felt and the blade are separated from the fixing roller, the knob 15 is manually rotated to remove the jammed paper, so that the rotation load is reduced and the work can be easily performed. Becomes

After the jammed paper is removed, if the front cover 13-1 is restored to the current state, the oil application felt 6, the blade 7 and the like come into contact with the fixing roller 1 in conjunction with the movement at that time, and each gear Are also engaged, so that power transmission is possible.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG.
Is fitted to a fulcrum shaft 10 so that the fulcrum shaft can be used as a guide so that it can be inserted and removed. With this configuration, the application unit 11 is detachable from the fixing unit 12, and the fixing roller can be easily replaced.

Example 2 Reference Example (see FIGS. 6 to 10) As shown in FIG. 6, the fixing device according to the present embodiment includes a fixing roller 1, a pressure roller 2, a feed roller 3, a separating unit 5, an oil-applied felt according to the above-described example. 6, a blade 7, an oil tank 8, and the like.

Of these, the oil application felt 6, the blade 7, the oil tank 8 and the like are incorporated in the case to constitute an application unit 110, which can be pulled out along the rail 25 and fixed. It can be used for maintenance such as replacement of the roller 1.

Hereinafter, the contact / separation means will be described. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, a fixing knob 26 is located on the front surface of the image forming apparatus. The shaft 27 of the fixing knob 26 is slidably supported by the side plate 13-3 of the image forming apparatus main body.

As shown in FIG. 8, an extensible spring 28 is provided at the shaft end of the shaft 27, and the fixing knob 26 is always pulled backward by the spring 28. The movement of the fixing knob due to the pulling of the spring is prevented by the step of the fixing knob 26 abutting against the side plate 13-3 of the image forming apparatus main body.

A first fixing gear 29 and a second fixing gear 29
There are two fixing gears 30 of which are fixed to a shaft,
The latter is provided via a spring clutch. The second fixing gear 30 is a fixing gear 31 coaxial with the fixing roller 1.
Are engaged. The second fixing gear 30 also meshes with the drive gear 32.

As described above, the spring clutch is built in the second fixing gear 30, so that when a torque equal to or more than a certain torque is applied to the second fixing gear, the second fixing gear 30 slips between the second fixing gear 30 and the shaft 27. Has become.

On the other hand, the first fixing gear 29 is engaged with a rack 33 provided integrally with the coating unit 110. The coating unit 110 is movable in a direction orthogonal to the shaft 27, that is, in a direction in which the coating unit 110 comes into contact with or separates from the fixing roller 1.

In this configuration, during normal fixing operation, the drive gear 32 rotates clockwise in FIG. 8 simultaneously with the start of driving. At the same time, the first fixing gear 29
Also rotates counterclockwise with the shaft 27,
The application unit 110 is pressed against the fixing roller 1 via the.

After the application unit 110 is pressed in this way, the load increases, so that the second fixing gear 30 slips with respect to the shaft 27 by the action of the spring clutch.

Accordingly, the fixing roller 31 rotates clockwise to rotate the transfer paper from right to left, and performs a normal fixing operation. When a jam occurs, the drive including the drive gear 32 is stopped, and the fixing knob 26 is rotated while pulling out the fixing knob 26 toward the front to feed the jammed paper.

At this time, by pulling out the fixing knob 26 to the front, the second drive gear 32 with respect to the drive gear 32 as shown in FIG.
The fixing unit 30 is disengaged from the fixing roller 30 by rotating the fixing knob 26 in a counterclockwise direction as shown in FIG. 9 to separate the coating unit 110 including the oil coating felt 6 and the blade 7 from the fixing roller 1. .

Accordingly, the rotation load of the fixing knob 26 is reduced and the fixing knob 26 rotates lightly, so that the jammed paper can be easily removed. Note that, depending on the type of the jam, there are cases where it is better to rotate the fixing roller 1 in the sending direction at the time of normal fixing and send it out, and cases where it is better to rotate the fixing roller 1 in the reverse direction.

When rotating in the normal feeding direction, there is no problem because the oil applied by the oil application felt 6 is scraped off by the blade 7. In the case of the reverse rotation, there is no blade in the downstream direction at the time of the reverse rotation, so that the oil applied by the oil application felt 6 may flow around on the fixing roller.

However, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, the rotation of the fixing knob also causes the coating unit 110 to be separated from the fixing roller 1 at the same time, so that the amount of wraparound can be minimized.

Example 3 Reference Example (See FIGS. 11 to 22) In FIG. 11, the fixing device is configured to be capable of being separately assembled into a fixing unit 12 and a coating unit 11.

The fixing unit 12 includes a fixing roller 1 having a built-in heater H, a pressure roller 2, a feed roller 3, a pressing means 4, a separating means 5 and the like. The application unit 11 includes an oil application felt 6, a blade 7, an oil tank 8, and the like.

The fixing unit 12 is mounted on a rail 40, and can be pulled out to the front by using the rail 40 as a guide, and maintenance such as replacement of the fixing roller can be performed in the pulled-out state.

In FIG. 12, a fixing knob 41 is provided on the side of the fixing unit 12. This fixing knob 41
Is provided with a gear, and this gear meshes with a gear integral with the shaft of the fixing roller. Therefore, the fixing roller 1 can be rotated by rotating the fixing knob 41 in addition to being rotated via a drive system from a motor.

In FIG. 12, although the fixing unit 12 is shown in a state of being pulled out slightly to the near side, its home position is a position where it is moved to the back side to the full extent of the rail 40.

When the fixing unit 12 is placed in the home position, the oil application felt 6 of the application unit 11
The coating unit 11 is attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus so that the components and the like correctly correspond to the fixing roller 1.

As shown in FIG. 12, a grooved hole 43 ′ formed on the back side of the coating unit 11 is detachably mounted on the support shaft 42 provided in the image forming apparatus main body as shown in FIG. This is due to the movable engagement and the engagement of the pin 43 of the application unit 11.

As shown in FIG. 13, the relationship between the support shaft 42 and the hole 43 'is such that the width of the support shaft 42 matches the groove width of the hole 43', and the length of the support shaft 42 is the same as that of the hole 43 '. It is adjusted to the diameter. Accordingly, by engaging the hole 43 ′ with the support shaft 42 via the groove, the coating unit 11 becomes rotatable about the engaging portion as a fulcrum.

Therefore, by holding the unit release lever 45 provided on the coating unit 11 and pulling it toward the user, the coating unit 11 can be separated from the fixing unit 12 as shown in FIG.

The coating unit 11 can be separated from the fixing unit 12 in a state where the coating unit 11 is opened with one end as a fulcrum as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. Therefore, the directions of the support shaft 42 and the groove portion of the hole 43 ′ are set so that the support shaft and the groove can be freely disengaged as shown in FIG. Stipulated.

As described above, when the unit release lever 45 is opened by holding the unit release lever 45, the oil application felt 6 and the blade 7 together with the application unit 11 are separated from the fixing roller 1, so that the rotational load of the fixing roller is reduced. Therefore,
The operation load on the fixing knob 41 is also reduced, and the jammed paper can be easily removed.

When the removal of the jammed paper is completed, the unit release lever 45 is closed, and the coating unit 11 is returned to the original state. At this time, the projection 46 formed on the coating unit 11 engages with the hole formed on the fixing unit 12 to determine the approximate position, and the pin 43 and the hole 44 engage to perform positioning in the front-rear direction. At a predetermined closed position of the unit release lever 45, there is a locking means (not shown) so that the closed state is maintained.

As described above, in this embodiment, the unit release lever 45, the support shaft 42, the hole 44, and the like constitute the main part of the contact / separation means. A modified example of the above example will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the application unit 11 is urged by a contractible spring 47 in a direction away from the fixing unit 12.

On the other hand, a pin 4 implanted in the main body of the image forming apparatus
A unit release lever 45 is provided with the fulcrum 8 as a fulcrum. The movement of the application unit 11 due to the urging force of the spring 47 is prevented by the unit release lever 45.

When removing the jammed paper, the unit release lever 45 is opened to the state shown by the two-dot chain line by releasing the locking means (not shown). Thus, the application unit 11 is separated from the fixing unit 12 by the force of the spring 47, and the contact with the fixing roller such as the oil application felt 6 is released. Therefore, according to the above-described example, the fixing knob can be lightly rotated, and the jammed paper can be easily removed.

As shown in FIG. 16, the oil application filter 6 and the blade 7 swing independently of each other and can be separated from the fixing roller 1. That is, as shown in FIG. 17, the intermediate portion of the arm supporting the coating felt 6 is supported by the fulcrum shaft 49, and the end of the arm is urged upward by the spring 50.

The rotation of the arm by the urging of the spring 50 causes the application felt 6 to move the fixing roller 1 during normal fixing.
Is prevented by contact with A cam 51a is located on the free end side of the arm, and the application felt 6 can be separated from the fixing roller 1 depending on the rotation position of the cam.

This relationship is completely the same for the blade 7, and the fulcrum axis at the intermediate portion of the arm of the blade 7 is indicated by reference numeral 52. The cam is indicated by reference numeral 51b. FIG.
In the state shown in FIG. 6, since the cam 51a is separated from the arm, the oil-applied felt 6 directly contacts the fixing roller 1. On the other hand, the cam of the blade 51 presses the arm of the blade 7, so that the blade 7 is separated from the fixing roller 1.

These cams 51a and 51b are connected to drive motors 54a and 54b via drive gears 53a and 53b as shown in FIG. Reference numeral 5 in FIG.
Reference numeral 7 denotes a release lever, one end of which is pivotally connected to the image forming apparatus via a pin 55. The opening and closing of the lever is detected by a photo sensor 56.

The operation will be described with reference to FIG.
Now, assuming that a jam has occurred in the fixing device, the fixing roller 1
, The oil-applied felt 6 and the blade 7 are in contact with each other. Due to the occurrence of the jam, the driving motor of the fixing roller stops rotating. In this state, in FIG.
When the release lever 57 is opened, a signal is output from the photosensor 56, and the drive motor 54b starts driving based on the signal. The driving of the driving motor 54b causes the cam 5 to move.
1b rotates to separate the blade 7 from the fixing roller 1 (see FIG. 17).

When the drive motor 54b rotates and stops by a preset amount of rotation, that is, a sufficient amount to separate the blade 7, the stop causes the fixing roller drive motor to start rotating and the fixing roller 1 to rotate. To reverse. The reverse movement means a rotation in a direction opposite to the rotation direction during normal fixing.

By this rotation, foreign matters 58 such as oil on the fixing roller between the coating felt 6 and the blade 7 are removed by the coating felt 6 as shown in FIG. The amount of this reverse movement is at least the amount by which the peripheral surface of the fixing roller moves from the blade 7 to the coating felt 6, and corresponds to the angle θ shown in FIG.

[0078] In FIG. 21, when the rotation of the fixing roller drive motor is stopped, as a trigger this stop, the drive motor 54 a starts driving. Thereby, the application felt 6 is separated from the fixing roller 1.

As described above, the foreign matter on the fixing roller can be removed by separating the blade 7 serving as the cleaning unit from the fixing roller before the application felt 6 serving as the release agent applying unit. In addition, after these are separated from the fixing roller, the rotational load of the fixing roller is reduced, so that the rotational load of the fixing knob is also reduced, and the jammed paper can be easily removed.

[0080]

According to the present invention, the release agent applying means separates from the fixing rotary roller and the reverse rotation of the rotary roller in conjunction with the operation of opening the front cover of the image forming apparatus. The burden of manually rotating the fixing roller during processing is reduced.

[0081]

[0082]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a fixing device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a fixing device.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration in which a coating unit moves in conjunction with opening and closing of a front door.

FIG. 4 is a front view illustrating a configuration in which a coating unit moves in conjunction with opening and closing of a front door.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view of a contact / separation unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a fixing device.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of a contact / separation unit.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram at the time of separation by the contact / separation means of FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a fixing device.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view illustrating a configuration in which an application unit can be freely moved toward and away from a fixing unit.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a rotation fulcrum of the application unit in FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating each state when the application unit comes into contact with and separates from the fixing unit.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an operation mode of a unit release lever.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a configuration for separately moving and separating the application felt and the lever.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a state when the application felt and the lever are individually separated.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the application felt and the lever are separately separated from each other.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a configuration for individually moving and separating an application felt and a lever.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a configuration for individually moving and separating an application felt and a lever.

FIG. 21 is a timing chart of contact / separation control.

FIG. 22 is a view for explaining an advantage obtained by separately contacting and separating a coating felt and a blade.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Fixing roller 2 Pressure roller 6 Oil application felt 7 Blade 10 Support shaft (as a contacting / separating means) 13-1 Front cover

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Jun Okamoto 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masanori Katsuki 1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. 6, Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Katsuhiro Kosuge, Inventor Katsuhiro 1-3-6, Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Ricoh Co., Ltd. (56) References JP, 60-8876, JP, A Opened 58-50566 (JP, A) Opened 60-110855 (JP, U) Opened 59-77159 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 13 / 20 G03G 15/00 550 G03G 15/20 G03G 21/16-21/18

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] A fixing device used in an image forming apparatus, comprising: a pair of fixing rotating rollers that rotate while being pressed against each other; a release agent applying unit that contacts at least one of the rotating rollers; A fixing device having a releasing / applying means for bringing the releasing agent applying means into contact with and separating from the rotating roller, wherein the releasing agent applying means is constituted by an oil applied felt and a blade provided downstream of the applied felt. In the apparatus, the contact / separation unit is configured to swing the release agent applying unit about a fulcrum axis, and the oil application felt and the blade are linked with opening / closing operation by swinging a front cover of the image forming apparatus. Wherein the rotating roller is rotated in reverse in accordance with the swinging operation of the release agent applying means at the same time as separating the rotating roller from the rotating roller.