Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Shinya Kawakami

Akimichi Suzuki

Takao Nada

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member for bearing a toner image, a rotatable endless belt, a first driving member for rotationally driving the endless belt and in contact with an inner peripheral surface of the endless belt, and a second driving member for rotationally driving the endless belt and in contact with an outer peripheral surface of the endless belt. In addition, a tension detecting unit detects a state of tension of the endless belt and a controller controls a rotational speed of the second driving member. A driving force applied from the second driving member to the endless belt is smaller than a driving force applied from the first driving member to the endless belt, and the tension detecting unit includes a metal roller contacting the inner peripheral surface of the endless belt and detects the tension by movement of the metal roller which follows the endless belt. The controller controls, on the basis of a detection result of the tension detecting unit, the rotational speed of the second driving member so that the state of tension of the endless belt is a predetermined state.

Image forming apparatus having endless belt tension detection

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member; an endless belt; a first driver for driving the belt in contact to an inner surface of the belt; a second driver for driving the belt in contact to an outer surface of the belt; and a tension detector for detecting a state of tension of the belt. The tension detector includes: a movable device, contacted to the belt in a region downstream of the second driver and upstream of the first driver and in a region upstream of the second driver and downstream of the first driver with respect to a rotational direction of the belt, capable of moving its position depending on the tension of the belt in the two regions; a member-to-be-detected capable of changing its position in interrelation with the movement of the movable device; and a detecting device for detecting the member-to-be-detected.

Image forming apparatus

The image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a first motor for driving said image bearing member, a fixing unit which fixes an image transferred from said image bearing member to a recording material onto the recording material and a second motor for driving said fixing unit, wherein said fixing unit is started up by said first motor and then driven by said second motor. Thereby, costs on the second motor for driving the fixing apparatus, which is disposed separately from the first motor for driving the image forming apparatus, can be restrained.

Image forming apparatus with first and second motors

The present invention relates to a separation member in contact with a sheet for separating the sheet with frictional force, comprising plurality of protrusion members, each structured of a supporting portion upright from an operation surface for the sheet and a distal end portion formed at a distal end of the supporting portion capable of contacting to the sheet. The supporting portion of the protrusion member is inclined toward a downstream side in a sheet feeding direction with respect to a direction perpendicular to the operation surface of the sheet.

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Mishima, Japan

Shinya Kawakami