Toner image fixing apparatus

摘要

A toner image fixing apparatus has a fixing roller, a pressing roller, and a heating roller which are rotatable about their own axes. The pressing roller presses a sheet carrying an unfixed toner image against the fixing roller to fix the unfixed toner image to the sheet. The heating roller is disposed on one side of the fixing roller remotely from the pressing roller. An endless heat transfer belt is trained around the heating and fixing rollers for transferring heat from a heater to heat the unfixed toner image on the sheet. A guide plate is positioned upstream of the pressing roller for guiding the sheet to enter between the fixing and pressing rollers. The heat transfer belt and th. guide plate are so spaced from each other that the sheet prior to being entering between the fixing and pressing rollers is kept out of contact with the heat transfer belt. The heat transfer belt may be positioned outside of a region where the sheet guided by the guide plate possibly passes. An angle between a line segment interconnecting the centers of the heating and fixing rollers and a reference line interconnecting the centers of the fixing and pressing rollers lies in a range from 105 DEG to 255 DEG . The fixing roller is a resilient roller with an outer resilient layer. The temperatures of the fixing and pressing rollers are kept in a predetermined temperature range in a standby mode.