Patent ID: 8204420

Claim:
A fuser for an image forming machine, comprising: an endless belt having opposite marginal side edge portions and opposite exterior and interior surfaces on said belt extending between said opposite marginal side edge portions; a heater housing disposed within said endless belt such that said interior surface thereof surrounds said housing lengthwise between opposite ends of said housing; a pair of end caps mounted to opposite ends of said housing adjacent to opposite lateral sides of said belt, each of said end caps having an inner flange spaced radially outward from a center portion of said end cap and radially inward from said opposite marginal side edge portions of said belt so as to define a clearance with radial height between said inner flange and said one of said opposite marginal side edge portions of said endless belt; and a plurality of protuberances defined on said inner flange of each of said end caps projecting toward said one of said opposite marginal edge portions of said endless belt and circumferentially spaced apart from each other to reduce belt skew relative to said end caps by enabling at least one of decreasing the surface area of contact of said inner flange of said end cap with said one of said opposite marginal side edge portions of said endless belt to the reduced surface areas of contact of said protuberances with said one of said opposite marginal side edge portions of said belt and decreasing the radial height of the clearance between said inner flange and said one of said opposite side edge portions of said belt to the reduced radial height between said one marginal side edge portion of said belt and said protuberances.