A transfer device includes: a transfer drum that has a groove-like recess extending in an axial direction in an outer circumferential portion thereof, rotates about an axis thereof, and comes into contact with a medium being transported at a portion thereof on an upstream side of the recess in a rotation direction; a nip member, the nip member and the transfer drum forming therebetween a nip part where the medium is nipped; an application member that applies a voltage to the nip part where the medium is nipped, so that an image is transferred to the medium; and a contact mechanism that causes the nip member to come into contact only with a portion on the upstream side of the recess in the transfer drum in the rotation direction at a transfer-start time when the transfer of the image to the medium starts.

A transport device includes a rotating body including a recessed portion on an outer surface, a rotatable heat unit that is in contact with the outer surface of the rotating body and forms an interposition region in which a recording medium is interposed between the heat unit and the rotating body, a transport unit that: (i) includes a hold member capable of holding a portion of the recording medium near a leading edge, (ii) transports the recording medium by moving the hold member in a rotational direction of the rotating body with the hold member contained in the recessed portion, and (iii) causes the hold member to pass through the interposition region, and a controller that controls rotation of the rotating body such that the recessed portion stops at a position upstream or downstream of the interposition region in the rotational direction when an anomaly is detected.

A recording-medium transport device includes: a first member that rotates; a second member that rotates, the first member or second member having a recess, the first member and second member forming a nip area therebetween and transporting a recording medium while nipping the recording medium in the nip area; a gripping member that grips the recording medium; a separating member that separates the recording medium having passed through the nip area from the first member or the second member; and a control mechanism that controls opening and closing of the gripping member and movement of the separating member such that the gripping member is opened so as to release the recording medium in a state in which the gripping member is located in the recess, and the separating member lifts the recording medium from a state in which the tip of the separating member is located in the recess.

Provided is an image forming device including: a conveying unit configured to convey a recording medium while rotating, in a state of being in contact with a back surface of the recording medium having a front surface on which a toner image is transferred; a main heating unit configured to heat the conveyed recording medium to fix the toner image on the recording medium; and a preheating unit disposed upstream of the main heating unit in a conveying direction of the recording medium and configured to heat, in a non-contact state, the recording medium being conveyed by the conveying unit, a portion of the conveying unit that is in contact with the recording medium being formed of a material that makes a maximum temperature of the portion be equal to or lower than a temperature of the recording medium when the recording medium is heated by the preheating unit.

An image forming apparatus includes: a transferer that transfers a toner image on an image carrier formed by an image former onto a paper sheet; a fixer that heats and thereby fixes the toner image on the paper sheet; a read image acquisitor that acquires read image data of the paper sheet on a downstream side of the fixer in a conveyance direction, the read image data being generated by a reader that reads an image of the paper sheet; and a hardware processor that: controls a conveyance speed of the paper sheet in the transferer and/or the fixer, and changes or updates the conveyance speed based on an image of the acquired read image data.

An image forming apparatus includes a heating rotary member and a pressing rotary member. The pressing rotary member and the heating rotary member form a fixing nip portion and are configured to apply heat and pressure to a toner image carried on a recording medium at the fixing nip portion, thereby fix the toner image onto the recording medium. The image forming apparatus further includes a winding roller configured to wind up a web used to collect toner that is not fixed to the recording medium, a motor configured to rotate the winding roller, a contact member configured to contact an outside surface of the web wound around the winding roller, a variable resistor disposed so as to be able to change a resistance in accordance with a position of the contact member, and a control unit configured to control an amount of rotation of the motor.

A sheet conveyor includes a conveyance belt configured to rotate to convey a sheet on which a liquid has been applied in a conveyance direction, and a guide configured to guide the sheet to the conveyance belt, a position of the guide being variable in the conveyance direction.

A fixing device includes a fixing member that is heated, a pressure member, a fixed housing, a movable housing, a moving mechanism, a separating member, a regulating portion, and a link member. The link member is interposed between the movable housing and the separating member. In the pressurized state, the separating member turns about the support shaft in a direction where the separating member approaches to the fixing member by own weight of the separating member. When the fixing pressure is switched from the pressurized state to the reduced pressure state, moving the movable housing in the direction where the movable housing separates from the fixed housing by the moving mechanism causes the separating member to turn about the support shaft via the link member in the direction where the separating member separates from the fixing member and causes the regulating portion to regulate turning of the separating member.

An image forming apparatus includes a fixing device including a fixing device frame, a chute rotatable between a path forming position and a path opening position, an optical sensor including a light-emitting element, and an actuator. The actuator has a shaft, a first lever configured to contact an anti-pivot rib, and a second lever configured to shield light emitted from the light-emitting element. The actuator is movable to a position where the first lever contacts the anti-pivot rib when the chute is at the path forming position, a position where the first lever and the anti-pivot rib are separated from each other when the chute is at the path forming position, and a position where the first lever and the anti-pivot rib are separated from each other when the chute is at the path opening position. The actuator and the optical sensor are supported by the fixing device frame.

In general, a fixing device according to an embodiment includes an endless belt, a pressure element, a heating member, an adjustment mechanism, and a controller. The pressure element conveys a sheet while interposing the sheet under pressure between the same and the endless belt. The heating member is provided on the inner side of the endless belt and has a heat generating element for heating the endless belt. The adjustment mechanism moves at least one of the heating member and the pressure element in such a direction as to bring the one closer to or away from the other, to adjust the nip width which is the length of an interposing and pressurizing region in a sheet conveyance direction, the interposing and pressurizing region being formed by the heating member and the pressure element to interpose the endless belt under pressure. The controller controls the adjustment mechanism so that A>B≧N is satisfied, where A is the nip width during a fixing process in which the sheet is heated to fix a color material onto the sheet, B is the nip width during temperature raising of the heating member to be conducted before the fixing process, and N is the length of the heat generating element in the sheet conveyance direction.