Patent ID: 11940748
Assignee: RICOH COMPANY, LTD.
Field: Optics (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A heating device comprising:
a belt;
an opposed rotator opposite the belt;
a heater;
a nip formation pad inside a loop of the belt and configured to form a nip between the belt and the opposed rotator;
a holder configured to hold the nip formation pad;
a stay configured to support the holder;
first to third pad positioning portions on at least one of the nip formation pad or the holder and configured to position the nip formation pad with respect to the holder in a rotation direction of the belt,
the first pad positioning portion at a first end of the at least one of the nip formation pad or the holder with respect to a center position of a heat generation span of the heater in a longitudinal direction of the heater;
the second pad positioning portion at a second end of the at least one of the nip formation pad or the holder with respect to the center position of the heat generation span of the heater in the longitudinal direction of the heater;
the third pad positioning portion closer to the center position of the heat generation span of the heater in the longitudinal direction of the heater than each of the first pad positioning portion and the second pad positioning portion, wherein no additional pad positioning portions are positioned between the first pad positioning portion and the third pad positioning portion, and no additional pad positioning portions are positioned between the second pad positioning portion and the third pad positioning portion; and
a holder positioning portion included by at least one of the holder or the stay and configured to position the holder with respect to the stay in the rotation direction of the belt, the holder positioning portion closer to the center position than at least one of the first pad positioning portion or the second pad positioning portion.