Image heating apparatus having a locking mechanism that locks a guide member in a first position and releases upon sliding movement

An image heating apparatus comprising:

• a pair of rotatable members configured to form a nip for heating an image on a recording material;
• a guide member configured to guide the recording material toward the nip;
• a supporting mechanism configured to rotatably support said guide member about an axis so that said guide member is movable between a first position at which said guide member guides the recording material and a second position at which maintenance of said image heating apparatus is carried out;
• and
• a locking mechanism configured to lock said guide member being in the first position, wherein said locking mechanism releases locking with sliding movement of said guiding member in a direction of the axis.

An image heating apparatus comprising:

• a pair of rotatable members configured to form a nip for heating an image on a recording material;
• a guide member configured to guide the recording material toward the nip;
• a supporting mechanism configured to rotatably support said guide member about an axis so that said guide member is movable between a first position at which said guide member guides the recording material and a second position at which said guide member said rotatable members from said image heating apparatus;
• and
• a locking mechanism configured to lock movement of said guide member from the first position toward the second position, wherein said locking mechanism releases locking with sliding movement of said guide member in a direction of the axis.