Patent ID: 7751768

Claim:
A fixing device comprising: a fixing member; a pressure member configured to press against the fixing member to form a nip through which a sheet of a recording medium having a toner image is fed to fix the toner image thereon; and a separation mechanism disposed at a downstream side from the nip relative to a sheet feed direction of the sheet of the recording medium to separate the recording medium from the fixing member, the separation mechanism comprising: a separation plate opposed to the fixing member with a gap therebetween in a sheet feed area and including a metal base member and a resin tip member mounted on a tip of the metal base member; and a gap control member configured to control the gap by contacting the fixing member in a sheet non-feed area and including a curved tip having a radius of not greater than 0.6 mm, wherein a center of the curved tip and a tip of the resin tip member are substantially congruent with each other in a direction perpendicular to the sheet feed direction.