Abstract: The image heating apparatus, for heating a toner image while conveying a recording material bearing the toner image at a nip portion, includes a rotary member in contact with the toner image, an endless belt, and a nip portion forming member that is in contact with the inner surface of the belt and forms the nip portion together with the rotary member via the belt. The nip portion forming member is a metal member having a surface which is in contact with the inner surface of the belt and on which an oxide layer is formed by an alumite treatment.

Abstract: This invention addresses the problem of providing an iron base soft magnetic powder for a powder magnetic core that does not use rare metals, that can maintain the electrical insulating properties between the iron powder particles even when subjected to high temperature thermal processing, and that has excellent thermal stability and mechanical strength. This invention also addresses the problem of providing a fabrication method for the iron base soft magnetic powder for the powder magnetic core, and providing the powder magnetic core. In this iron base soft magnetic powder for the powder magnetic core, a phosphatized coating film is formed on the surface of the iron base soft magnetic powder, and a silicon resin coating film is formed on the surface of the phosphatized coating film. The phosphatized coating film contains P, B, Mg, and Al.

Abstract: A fixing device configured to fix a toner image on a recording material by heating while conveying the recording material that bears the toner image by a nip portion, the fixing device includes a fixing roller having a rubber layer, a rotating member configured to form a contact portion between the rotating member and the fixing roller, and a pressure member configured to form the nip portion cooperatively with the fixing roller. In the fixing device, heat of the rotating member transfers to the fixing roller from the rotating member via the contact portion, and the contact portion includes a region where the pressure is increased after being decreased on a downstream side further than a center of the contact portion in the rotational direction of the rotating member.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus including: a rotatable image bearing member; and a brush roller that rotates in a counter direction to a rotational direction of the image bearing member with a bristle portion being in sliding contact with an image bearing surface of the image bearing member. The bristle portion is inclined forward in the rotational direction of the brush roller.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: a transfer belt that is stretched on a plurality of support rollers including a backup roller in a loop-like manner and has an outer surface for carrying thereon a toner image; a transfer roller that is brought into pressurized contact with the backup roller across the transfer belt and forms a transfer nip with the transfer belt; a restriction member that is placed upstream of a transfer nip in a sheet conveying direction so as to be switchable between a first state in which the restriction member is brought closer to an inner surface of the transfer belt and a second state in which a distance of the restriction member from the inner surface of the transfer belt is larger than that in the first state; and a control section that switches a state of the restriction member.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus including a transfer section for transferring a toner image formed on an image bearing member onto a sheet by pressure contact of the sheet against the image bearing member with a transfer member; a cleaning section having a cleaning blade to remove residual toner on the image bearing member; and a control section for controlling a rotation of the image bearing member so as to carry out a return action of a blade configuration which stops or reverses the rotation of the image bearing member, when the rotation amount reaches a predetermined value, wherein the control section additionally carries out the return action when the rotation amount reaches a value smaller than the predetermined value, in a case where a size of a sheet in a current job is larger than a size a sheet having been passed through in a previous job.

Abstract: A fixing apparatus includes a roller, a first unit configured to heat the roller, the first unit including a first tubular film, a heating portion forming member to form a heating portion with the roller, and a first guide member dotted with first protruding portions contacting the inner surface of the first tubular film, and a second unit configured to form a nip portion with the roller, the second unit including a second tubular film, a nip portion forming member to form the nip portion with the roller, and a second guide member dotted with second protruding portions contacting the inner surface of the second tubular film, wherein there is a non-overlapping area between the first protruding portions and the second protruding portions in a generatrix direction of the roller.

Abstract: A fixing device fixes on a recording material a toner image formed on the recording material and includes a fixing roller, a heating member for heating the fixing roller in contact with an outer surface of the fixing roller, and a pressing member for forming a fixing nip between itself and the fixing roller. When the recording material which has been jammed so that its leading end passes through the fixing nip to reach a contact portion between the heating member and the fixing roller, a force for drawing the recording material upstream when nipped in the fixing nip is at least equal to the drawing force of the recording material, toward the upstream side with respect to the rotational direction of the fixing roller, nipped between the fixing roller in the rest state and the heating member.

Abstract: The laser machining apparatus includes a transmission fiber that transmits laser light emitted from a laser oscillator through the fiber, a machining head that emits the laser light, which is sent from the transmission fiber, vertically to a main surface of a machining object and sends reflected light, which is reflected coaxially with the laser light by the machining object, to the transmission fiber, a reflected light monitoring unit that detects a reflected light intensity of the reflected light sent from the transmission fiber, and a control device that controls the laser oscillator and the machining head, in which the control device includes a determining unit that, at a time when laser machining is started, determines whether the machining object corresponds to a machining condition or not in laser machining on the basis of the reflected light intensity.

Abstract: A cleaning device, including, a first blade to slidably contact with a surface of an image carrier to which a toner including an external additive adheres, a second blade to slidably contact with the surface of the image carrier and to be provided downstream of the first blade in a rotation direction of the image carrier, and a lubricant applying mechanism section to apply a lubricant to the surface of the image carrier, wherein hardness of the first blade is equal to or more than hardness of the second blade.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus for performing image formation by using an electrophotographic process, the image forming apparatus including: a control section for judging existence of necessity of correction of process conditions in the electrophotographic process based on environment dependence characteristic information of a resistance value of a member that is used for the electrophotographic process and constitutes the image forming apparatus and environment change information in the own apparatus, and performing the correction based on the result of the judgment.

Abstract: It is also an object of the present invention to provide objective advertisement plan(s). The target specifying information storage part 202 stores information for specifying target attribution including information for specifying information delivery medium of an object to contact with correspondently with searchers' id. The search term storage part 203 correspondently stores a searcher's id, the timing of search, and the term used for the search. The extraction part 204 extracts the timing of search for such search term for each searcher's id, segments the extracted search timing for each searcher's id into a predetermined number in chronological order and then extracts searcher's id belonging to each segment.

Abstract: A cleaning blade is described which hardly suffers from cut surface abrasion at the edge having a chamfered portion. A flat chamfered portion 60a is formed at the edge of the cleaning blade 60 where the chamfer angle thereof closer to the surface of an intermediate transfer belt 41 is set within a range of 20° to 65°. The chamfered portion 60a in a rubbing contact during printing is therefore prevented from being dragged in the moving direction ‘a’ of the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 41 to increase the rubbing contact width, and cut surface abrasion can be avoided.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes: image carriers, an intermediate transfer body, primary transfer members, support members, a secondary transfer unit, a cleaning member, an adjustment mechanism, and a control unit. The support members rotatably support the intermediate transfer body. The cleaning member abuts against the intermediate transfer body at a position other than a position opposite to the support member under a predetermined condition based on a reference tension of the intermediate transfer body. The adjustment mechanism can adjust an abutment condition between the cleaning member and the intermediate transfer body. The control unit controls the adjustment mechanism to adjust the abutment condition to be suitable for removing, by the cleaning member, recording materials remaining on the intermediate transfer body without being transferred onto the transfer material when a tension of the intermediate transfer body is changed from the reference tension.

Abstract: An image heating apparatus includes a rotatable member; a heater contactable to a surface of the rotatable member to heat the rotatable member; and a back-up member cooperative with the rotatable member to form a nip for nipping and feeding a recording material carrying an image, wherein a position of a peak in a pressure distribution with respect to a rotational direction of the rotatable member is upstream, with respect to the rotational direction, of a central portion of a contact region between the rotatable member and the heater with respect to the rotational direction.

Abstract: An image heating apparatus for heating a recording material, on which a toner image is carried, while conveying the recording material in a nip includes: a fixing roller including a core metal, a heat insulating layer formed on a surface of the core metal, and a high heat transfer layer which is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the heat insulating layer and has a higher thermal conductivity than the heat insulating layer; a heating member for heating the fixing roller from an outside; and a back-up member for forming the nip together with the fixing roller. When the fixing roller and the back-up member opposing the fixing roller are supplied with the same heat quantity, a temperature rise rate in a neighborhood of the surface of the back-up member supplied with the heat quantity is higher than that of the fixing roller.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a transfer belt, a pressure receiving roller, a suspension roller, a secondary transfer roller, and an endless support belt. The support belt is stretched over at least one of the pressure receiving roller and the suspension roller. When pressing the transfer belt between the pressure receiving roller and the secondary transfer roller, and nipping paper between the transfer belt and the secondary transfer roller, an angle defined by the portion, upstream from the secondary transfer roller, of the transfer belt and an imaginary line connecting the pressure-receiving-roller axis with the secondary-transfer-roller axis is less than 90 degrees. A part of the support belt is held between the transfer belt and at least one of the two rollers over which the support belt is stretched.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus includes a transfer belt, a pressure receiving roller, a secondary transfer roller, and a belt movement restricting section. The belt movement restricting section is disposed close to the back of the belt. When pressing the belt between the pressure receiving roller and the secondary transfer roller, and nipping paper between the belt and the secondary transfer roller, an angle defined by the portion, upstream from the secondary transfer roller, of the belt and an imaginary line connecting the pressure-receiving-roller axis with the secondary-transfer-roller axis is less than 90 degrees. During non-secondary-transfer mode, the belt movement restricting section is separated from the belt. During secondary transfer, the belt movement restricting section holds the belt not to let the belt pushed by the paper move toward the pressure receiving roller.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus forms an unfixed toner image on a sheet and includes a fixing unit including a fixing roller, a back-up member forming a nip with the fixing roller, and a rotatable heater contactable to and heating the fixing roller. The sheet is output from the apparatus after the unfixed toner image is fixed on the sheet. In a cleaning mode for cleaning the fixing unit, a predetermined unfixed toner image is formed on the sheet, the sheet is fed to the fixing unit, the toner is transferred from the sheet onto the fixing roller in the fixing nip, the toner transferred onto the fixing roller is brought into contact to the heating member, and thereafter, the toner on the fixing roller is transferred onto the sheet in the fixing nip.

Abstract: An image heating apparatus for heating a toner image formed on a recording material includes a first rotatable member contactable to the toner image; and a heating unit, including a second rotatable member rotating while contacting a surface of the first rotatable member, for heating the first rotatable member. The toner image on the recording material is heated by receiving heat from the first rotatable member heated by the heating unit. The image heating apparatus further includes a potential controller for maintaining a polarity of a surface potential of the second rotatable member so as to be opposite to a charge polarity of the toner.