Patent ID: 8472826

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming station configured to form a toner image on a recording material; an image fixing station configured to heat fix the toner image formed on the recording material onto the recording material; and a feeding controller configured to control feeding of the recording material, wherein when a size of the recording material is smaller than a reference size, the feeding controller controls a feeding interval between a precedent recording material and a subsequent recording material in response to a temperature of the image fixing station in a non-sheet-passing-range, and wherein when image formation on a plurality of recording materials which are smaller than a reference size is started at a timing at which an elapsed time from an end of a last image formation exceeds a predetermined time, the feeding controller sets an initial feeding interval to a predetermined minimum feeding interval, and wherein when image formation on a plurality of recording materials smaller than the reference size is started at a timing at which the elapsed time is shorter than the predetermined time, the feeding controller selects the initial feeding interval from a plurality of feeding intervals in accordance with the elapsed time within a range longer than the predetermined minimum feeding interval and equal to or shorter than a last feeding interval at the time of an image formation of a last time, and sets the initial feeding interval.