Patent ID: 7844209

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a toner image forming device configured to form a toner image on a recording material; an image heating device including a rotary member and an endless belt configured to heat the toner image on the recording material in a nip therebetween; a driving mechanism configured to rotationally drive said rotary member and said endless belt; a changing mechanism configured to change a relative position between said rotary member and said endless belt between a contacting position where said rotary member and said endless belt are in contact with each other and a spacing position where said rotary member and said endless belt are spaced from each other; and a controller configured to control said driving mechanism so that said rotary member and said endless belt are rotated when the relative position is changed from the spacing position to the contacting position in response to input of an image formation starting signal, wherein said controller sets target values of a peripheral speed of said rotary member and a peripheral speed of said endless belt at the time when the relative position is changed from the spacing position to the contacting position, wherein the target values are lower than the peripheral speed of said rotary member and the peripheral speed of said endless belt in a period after the relative position is changed to the contacting position and before the recording material enters the nip.