Patent ID: 11947288
Assignee: KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS INC.
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A fixing device comprising:
a rotatable fixing member which heats a recording medium on which a toner image is formed;
a pressure member which comes into contact with the fixing member to form a pressured area at which the recording medium is held and conveyed;
a separation claw which is provided so as to be contactable on a surface of the fixing member and comes into contact with the surface of the fixing member to separate the recording medium from the fixing member at a fixing operation; and
a moving mechanism which moves the separation claw in a rotational axis direction of the fixing member, wherein
the moving mechanism includes:
a thrust gear which rotates around a support shaft extending in an upper-and-lower direction as the fixing member rotates;
a protrusion formed on a lower surface of the thrust gear;
a thrust cam which is disposed below the thrust gear and rotated around the support shaft;
a hole formed on an upper surface of the thrust cam on a rotational locus of the protrusion around the support shaft, into which the protrusion can be fitted; and
a biasing member which biases the separation claw so as to be pressed against the thrust cam along the rotational axis direction, wherein
when the fixing device is assembled, the protrusion of the thrust gear is placed on the upper surface of the thrust cam other than the hole and the separation claw is immovably positioned at an initial position in the rotational axis direction, and
when the thrust gear is rotated and the protrusion moves on the upper surface of the thrust cam along the rotation locus to be fitted into the hole when the fixing operation is started, the thrust gear and the thrust cam are engaged with each other to rotate the thrust cam around the support shaft and the separation claw moves in the rotational axis direction.