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:
Mar. 23, 1999
Filed:
Sep. 18, 1997
Naoto Hirao, Kawasaki, JP;
Yoshihiro Tonomoto, Kawasaki, JP;
Toshimasa Toyama, Kawasaki, JP;
Masaaki Ohyama, Kawasaki, JP;
Mituaki Ono, Kawasaki, JP;
Kiyoshi Chinzei, Hyogo, JP;
Katsumi Adachi, Hyogo, JP;
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, JP;
Abstract
An image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit including at least a pair of rollers which thermally fix a toner image formed on a surface of a recording medium by pressing against the recording medium, and a separating and contacting mechanism supporting the pair of rollers so that the rollers can separate from and make contact with the recording medium, where the separating and contacting mechanism controls the rollers when contacting the rollers to the recording medium, by contacting each of the rollers approximately perpendicularly to the surface of the recording medium and so that the recording medium thereafter makes contact with a surface of each of the rollers for a wrap-around angle greater than 0.degree..