Patent ID: 8355659

Claim:
A fixing device comprising: a fixing member which is capable of rotating; a pressure member which pressures the fixing member; an external heating unit having an external heating member which is in contact with a surface of the fixing member so as to heat up the fixing member, the external heating member being rotatably suspended; a cleaning member which is in contact with a surface of the external heating member so as to remove a contaminant adhered to the surface of the external heating member; and a release agent applying means which applies a release agent for improving releasability to the surface of the external heating member which surface is in contact with the cleaning member and the fixing member, a recording material being carried to a section between the fixing member and the pressure member and then a toner image on the recording material being thermally fixed to the recording member by a heat conducted from the fixing member, the external heating member being an endless belt suspended by a plurality of suspending rollers, the cleaning member being a scraper which is a plate-like member whose edge is in contact with the surface of the external heating member so as to remove the contaminant adhered onto the surface of the external heating member, the release agent applying means (i) applying the release agent to the surface of the external heating member and (ii) removing the contaminant on the surface of the external heating member, by causing a felt member impregnated with the release agent to have contact with the surface of the external heating member, the scraper being in contact with an outer surface of the endless belt at a position where an inner surface of the endless belt is not in contact with the plurality of suspending rollers, and the release agent applying means being in contact with the outer surface of the endless belt at (i) a position situated (a) at a downstream, in a rotation direction of the external heating member, of a section at which the scraper is in contact with the external heating member and (b) at an upstream, in the rotation direction, of a section at which the fixing member is in contact with the external heating member and (ii) a position where the inner surface of the endless belt is in contact with any of the plurality of suspending rollers.