The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 15, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 13, 1996
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A fixing device has a fixing roller, a press member disposed in a press state in an axial direction of the fixing roller on the periphery surface thereof, and a transport guide for guiding transport of paper. The press member is formed so that the free height of a guide part on an upstream side with respect to the transport direction of the paper is lower than that of the pressure portion pressed to the fixing roller via a heat resistant sheet. Therefore, since the apparent elasticity hardness of the pressure portion can be made relatively small, the nip width formed by the fixing roller and the press member can be made large. Consequently, the fixing of toner to the paper is improved. Even when, for example, a thin sheet of paper or an envelope is used as the paper, the fixing device can suppress the occurrence of paper jam, such as paper lodging, and improper paper insertion.