Patent ID: 7894744

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: a recording medium supply cassette disposed at a lower part of the image forming apparatus and configured to store a plurality of recording medium sheets; a first turning unit configured to receive one sheet of the plurality of recording medium sheets stored in the recording medium supply cassette and turn the one sheet upside-down; a transferring area disposed in a slantwise direction with respect to the ground and configured to receive the one sheet from the first turning unit and transfer an image on the one sheet; a transfer belt having a surface inclined with respect to the ground in the transferring area; a plurality of image forming units disposed at intervals along the transfer belt; a second turning unit configured to receive the one sheet from the transferring area and turning the one sheet right-side up, the second turning unit located at a position higher than the plurality of image forming units with respect to the ground; and an ejection part configured to receive the one sheet from the second turning unit and eject the sheet onto an ejecting position on an upper surface of the image forming apparatus; a heating and fixing unit disposed downstream of the transfer belt in a recording medium feeding direction, and upstream of the second turning unit in the recording medium feeding direction, wherein the heating and fixing unit includes a fixing roller, a pressurizing roller in press-contact with a lower portion of the fixing roller, a heating roller heated by a heating unit, and a belt wound across the fixing roller and the heating roller, wherein the heating roller is disposed more upstream in the recording medium feeding direction than the fixing roller, wherein the heating roller is positioned under the fixing roller and above the plurality of image forming units, and wherein the recording medium supply cassette, the transferring area, and the ejecting position are overlapped in a vertical direction.