Patent ID: 8582991

Claim:
A fixing device comprising: a fixing rotary body; an opposed rotary body to contact the fixing rotary body to form a fixing nip therebetween through which a recording medium bearing a toner image passes; a plurality of separators disposed downstream from the fixing nip in a conveyance direction of the recording medium and contactable to the fixing rotary body independently from each other, the plurality of separators to contact the fixing rotary body to separate the recording medium having passed through the fixing nip from the fixing rotary body; a plurality of contact direction biasing members attached to the plurality of separators to exert a first bias to the plurality of separators to cause the plurality of separators to contact the fixing rotary body; a separator presser to press against the plurality of separators against the first bias exerted by the plurality of contact direction biasing members to separate the plurality of separators from the fixing rotary body; a single driver connected to the separator presser to separate the separator presser from the plurality of separators; an entering recording medium detector disposed upstream from the fixing nip in the conveyance direction of the recording medium to detect the recording medium; and a controller connected to the driver to control the driver based on a detection signal sent from the entering recording medium detector to change a contact time period for which the plurality of separators contacts the fixing rotary body, wherein the entering recording medium detector includes a registration sensor to detect the recording medium conveyed toward a registration roller pair disposed upstream from the fixing device in the conveyance direction of the recording medium.