Patent ID: 7260353

Claim:
An image heating apparatus, comprising: a heat rotary member, which heats an image on a recording material at a heating nip; an endless belt, which forms the heating nip between the endless belt and the heat rotary member; a roller, which presses the endless belt toward the heat rotary member at the heating nip; a pad, which presses the endless belt toward the heat rotary member at the heating nip; and a sheet, which covers the pad and which is slidable on the endless belt, wherein the following relationship is satisfied: 0 <S 1 /S 0≦0.25, where S 0 : a cross-section of a space formed with points A 1 , A 2 , B 1 , B 2 , and C in an area surrounded by the belt, the roller, and the pad, where A 1 : a boundary point at which the pad and the sheet start to separate, A 2 : a point corresponding to A 1 on the opposite side of the sheet, irrespective of the thickness of the sheet; B 1 : another boundary point at which the pad and the sheet start to separate, B 2 : a point corresponding to B 1 on the opposite side of the sheet, irrespective of the thickness of the sheet, and C: a position at which the roller contacts the endless belt, and S 1 : a cross-section of a space surrounded by the belt, the roller, and the sheet.