Patent ID: 7003242

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming section for forming an image; a fixing section for fixing the image formed by the image forming section onto a sheet of recording medium by application of heat to the sheet carrying the image; a first transport path for guiding the sheet carrying the image fixed by the fixing section upward; a second transport path located above the fixing section for guiding the sheet which has passed through the first transport path generally in a horizontal direction; an exhaust device located above the second transport path for exhausting air from a location above the second transport path; the image forming apparatus further comprising an image reading section located above the second transport path for reading image information from an original, wherein the exhaust device exhausts a mass of air from between the second transport path and the image reading section; and a box shaped support member sustaining the image reading section, the support member including an exhaust duct constituting part of the exhaust device.