Patent ID: 8818252

Claim:
A toner fixing system for fixing toner onto a receiver medium, the toner having a toner glass transition temperature, comprising: a reservoir containing a heating liquid; a liquid-heating system for warming the heating liquid in the reservoir to a temperature greater than the toner glass transition temperature; and a media-transport system for transporting the receiver medium along a transport path which passes through the reservoir whereby the receiver medium is submerged in the warmed heating liquid such that heat is transferred from the warmed heating liquid to the toner, thereby raising a temperature of the toner to a level above the toner glass transition temperature; wherein the heating liquid in the reservoir has a higher temperature and pressure in a lower zone than in an upper zone above the lower zone, the transport path being configured so that the receiver medium passes through the lower zone and the upper zone and out of the reservoir into an environment at the ambient pressure, and wherein moisture in the receiver medium in the lower zone is heated to a temperature higher than an ambient pressure boiling point of the moisture but remains liquid until the moving receiver medium carries the heated moisture out of the lower zone.