Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Taiya Hirayama

Kenichi Tanaka

Koji Takematsu

Shutaro Saito

Takeshi Kozuma

Atsushi Ishigami

Youichi Chikugo

Seiichiro Kameda

Masashi Sawada

Yuichi Makino

A rotation member support configuration supports a roller and applies pressure in a direction orthogonal to the rotational axis line of the roller, using a spring attached around a bearing. The spring includes two coils differing from each other in twisting direction and connected at an angle formed with respect to a coil axis line direction.

Rotation member support configuration and fixing device using same

An image heating apparatus including a rotatable heating member, a first motor configured to rotationally drive the rotatable heating member, a belt unit, a position detecting portion, a tilting mechanism, including a second motor for tilting the belt unit, a jam detecting portion, and a controller. When the occurrence of the jam is detected by the jam detecting portion during a tilting operation of the belt unit, the controller stops drive of the first motor and drive of the second motor in response to detection of the occurrence of the jam by the jam detecting portion.

Image heating apparatus

An image forming apparatus includes an image forming portion that forms a toner image on a recording material, and a first rotatable member and a second rotatable member, which form a nip therebetween in which the toner image, formed on the recording material by the image forming portion, is heated. A belt unit includes an endless belt that externally heats the first rotatable member, and a supporting mechanism rotatably supporting the endless belt. A moving mechanism moves the belt unit so as to be movable between a contact position and a spaced position. In addition, a controller executes a process in which one of the belt unit with a new endless belt and a new belt unit with a new endless belt is moved to the contact position, and then, the new endless belt is rotated for a predetermined time by the first rotatable member.

Image forming apparatus that performs a process of rotating a new endless belt before an image forming operation

A cleaning apparatus and a fixing apparatus include a cleaning web configured to remove toner adhering to a rotation member, the cleaning web including a recessed portion in at least a part thereof, and a displacement mechanism configured to situate a relative position between the rotation member and a pressure member configured to press the cleaning web toward the rotation member at a first position where the cleaning web is pressed toward the rotation member by the pressure member and at a second position where the rotation member and the pressure member are farther from each other than at the first position. The displacement mechanism situates the relative position at the second position based on an output of a detection position configured to detect a position of the recessed portion, so that a rear end of the recessed portion is not pressed toward the rotation member by the pressure member.

Cleaning apparatus, and fixing apparatus using same

An image forming apparatus includes: a display portion; an image forming device; a fixing device; a controller configured to control display of the display portion so that one is selected from a plurality of sheet widths to impose a limitation on a use of the image forming apparatus; a storing portion, provided detachably mountable to the image forming apparatus together with the fixing device, configured to store information corresponding to the sheet width selected at the display portion; a reading portion configured to read information stored in the storing portion; and a limiting portion configured to impose, on the basis of the information read by the reading portion, a limitation on widths of sheets capable of being designated as a printing condition.

Image forming apparatus

A fixing device detachably mountable to an image forming apparatus, includes: a pair of rotatable members forming a nip configured to fix a toner image on a recording material by heat and pressure; a receiving portion capable of receiving information corresponding to the width of a recording material from an external terminal so as to limit a use of the fixing device; and a storing portion configured to store the information received by the receiving portion.

Fixing device with receiving portion configured to receive information corresponding to width of recording material from external terminal and image forming apparatus including such fixing device

A control device configured to control an image forming apparatus by replacing a fixing device mounted therein with another fixing device including a storing portion configured to store information corresponding to a width of a recording material. The control device includes: a reading portion configured to read the information corresponding to the width of the recording material stored in the storing portion; an obtaining portion configured to obtain information corresponding to a width of a recording material to be subjected to image formation; and a controller configured to control an operation of the image forming apparatus on the basis of the information read by the reading portion and the information obtained by the obtaining portion. The controller prohibits an image forming operation when the width of the recording material obtained by the obtaining portion is smaller than the width of the recording material read by the reading portion.

Control device, image forming apparatus and fixing device

An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming device; a first image heating device; a second image heating device; a first feeding path configured to discharge the recording material introduced into the first image heating device without introducing the recording material into the second image heating device; a second feeding path configured to discharge a recording material introduced into the first image heating device and then introduced into the second image heating device; a discriminating portion configured to discriminate whether or not the first image heating device is an image heating device for an envelope; and a controller configured to effect control so as not to execute a heating operation of the second image heating device, upon discrimination of the first image heating device being the image heating device for the envelope by the discriminating portion.

Image forming apparatus discriminating whether image heating device is for heating an envelope and system with display portion configured to display a display prompting an operator to mount image heating device for an envelope

The present invention provides an image heating apparatus capable of holding an open/close unit at a normal position and capable of inexpensively avoiding conveyance failure and deterioration in image quality. An image heating apparatus includes a fixing an rollerand a pressing belt, a pressing mechanismwhich rotates a pressing belt unithaving a pressing beltto retract the pressing beltfrom a pressing contact position, a separation projectionwhich separates the sheet S from the pressing belt, and an open/close unitwhich rotates a separating unit (separation projection, division plate) to retract the separation projectionfrom a separating position. The pressing belt unitincludes a push-up memberwhich locks the separating unit located in the separating position when the pressing belt unitis in the pressing contact position.

The present invention provides an image heating apparatus which can easily attach and detach an external heating unit and easily perform a maintenance operation. The image heating apparatus has a fixing apparatus framewhich rotatably supports a fixing roller, a unit including a pressure springwhich urges an external heating rollertoward the fixing roller, a pressure guide shaftwhich holds the pressure spring, and a pressure staywhich slidably supports the pressure guide shaft, a screwwhich detachably fixes the unit to the fixing apparatus framevia the pressure stay, and a pressure releasing armwhich releases the force of the pressure springacting on the screwvia the pressure stayby sliding the pressure guide shaftrelative to the pressure stay

Image heating apparatus with detachable unit urging external heating member to rotational body

An image forming apparatus includes a toner image forming device, a toner image conveyer unit, a control device, and a moving device. The toner image conveyer unit includes a toner image conveyer, a supporting member that detachably supports the toner image conveyer, and a detecting member that detects a toner image on the toner image conveyer. The toner image conveyer unit is movable between a first position where the toner image is formed on the toner image conveyer and a second position where the toner image conveyer is attached to or detached from the supporting member. The moving device moves the detecting member located at a position to detect the toner image, away from the toner image conveyer supported by the supporting member, in conjunction with an operation to move the toner image conveyer unit from the first position to the second position.

Image forming apparatus including movable belt unit and movable detecting member

An image reading apparatus including; a supply device for supplying sheets to a reading position, a platen glass plate in the reading position, a platen roller opposed to the platen glass plate, a reading device for exposing a sheet on the platen glass plate to read an image on the sheet, and a white guide member upstream of the platen roller in the transporting direction, wherein a portion of the guide member closest to the platen roller is on the platen roller side with respect to a plane which includes the point in the outer periphery of the platen roller closest to the platen glass plate and which is parallel to the platen glass plate, and wherein the longitudinal length of the guide member is the same as or larger than the width of the range of the reading device.

Sheet transport apparatus, image reading apparatus and image forming apparatus

An image reading apparatus in which a contact type image sensor (CIS) is pressed by springs to cause abutment members to abut the lower surface of an original support glass, wherein the abutment members are arranged within the main scanning reading range of the CIS and, more specifically, at positions where the deflection amount of the original support glass with respect to the end portions of the main scanning reading range is approximately &#xbd; of the maximum deflection amount. Thus, when the original support glass is deflected, the CIS is pressed down against the spring force by approximately &#xbd; of the maximum deflection amount in the main scanning reading range of the original support glass from the position where the original table has no deflection, whereby the optimum focal position of the CIS is downwardly shifted and as a result, the upper surface of the original support glass constituting the original surface is retained within the effective focus range of the CIS over the entire main scanning reading range, thereby making it possible to perform high quality image reading.

Growing community of inventors

Moriya, Japan

Taiya Hirayama