Patent ID: 7877042

Claim:
A fixing unit comprising: a heating roller; a pressurizing roller opposed to the heating roller and urged toward the heating roller; a unit case that rotatably supports both ends in a longitudinal direction of the heating roller, the unit case being open at one side of the heating roller opposed to the pressurizing roller and covering the other side of the heating roller opposite to the pressurizing roller; a pair of pressurizing roller supporting bodies that are respectively provided at both ends in a longitudinal direction of the unit case and rotatably support both ends of the pressurizing roller; and a pair of end covers that cover both the ends in the longitudinal direction of the heating roller, wherein the end covers comprise first end covers that are formed with openings, which open to the pressurizing roller, the openings being formed at the respective sides of the first end covers, the first end covers enclosing, in the longitudinal direction, both ends of the heating roller except for the openings formed at the respective sides of the first end covers, and second end covers for covering the openings in the first end covers, wherein the second end covers include a pair of second end covers, each one of the pair second end covers is disposed on each of the pair of pressurizing roller supporting bodies, and the second end covers are separately provided from the first end covers, and wherein the pair of pressurizing roller supporting bodies rotates to move the pressurizing roller into contact with or apart from the heating roller and to move the second end covers with the pair of pressurizing roller supporting bodies to cover or expose openings in the first end covers.