Patent ID: 7684746

Claim:
A fixing apparatus, including: a fixing member; a pressing member; and one or more external heating devices for heating and bringing a belt rotatably suspended by a plurality of support rollers into contact with a peripheral surface of the fixing member or the pressing member which serves as a heated member so as to heat the heated member; the fixing member and the pressing member transporting a recording material by sandwiching the recording material so that an unfixed image on the recording material is fixed onto the recording material with heat and pressure, said fixing apparatus comprising: a release/contact operating device for moving a relative position of at least one support roller out of the support rollers with respect to the heated member between (i) a first position which allows the belt to be in contact with the heated member to form a contact area therebetween and (ii) a second position which allows the belt to be in contact with the heated member so that the contact area is smaller than in the first position; and a regulating member which is provided on the support rollers so as to be positioned axially outside of a region facing to the heated member and is in contact with an edge portion of the belt for regulating a position in an axial direction of the belt, wherein when said at least one support roller is in the second position, the regulating member has a height from a surface of the region facing to the heated member on the support roller so that the height is longer than a distance between a surface of the support roller having the regulating member and a surface of the heated member.