Patent ID: 8628188

Claim:
An apparatus for drying a sheet, comprising: a rotatable belt having an outer surface and an inner surface, a part of the outer surface being into contact with a sheet; a plurality of rollers including a first roller and a second roller adjacent to each other, the plurality of rollers being pressed against the outer surface with the sheet being held between the plurality of rollers and the outer surface; a blowing mechanism configured to blow hot air from between the first roller and the second roller toward the sheet through an ejection port provided at a position corresponding to a portion between the first roller and the second roller, wherein the hot air blown onto the sheet through the ejection port is separated to flow toward opposite two directions along a path between the first roller and the second roller a heating unit including a contact surface coming into contact with the inner surface and a plurality of heaters arranged along a direction of a sheet width; and a housing accommodating the rotatable belt, the rollers, the blowing mechanism and the heating unit, wherein the hot air circulates in the housing, wherein one of the heaters corresponding to an area where the hot air through the ejection port is blown and separated supplies a larger heating amount to the rotatable belt than each of the heaters in other areas.