Fixing device and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• image forming means for forming a toner image on a surface of an image carrier by using a liquid developer in which a toner is dispersed in a carrier liquid;
• and
• transferring/fixing means for concurrently transferring and fixing said toner image to one side of a recording medium,
• wherein said transferring/fixing means includes a contact member arranged to be able to contact a back side of said image carrier and a pressing member pressing on the other side of said recording medium for pressing said recording medium against the surface of said image carrier, and performs the transferring/fixing process by passing said recording medium and said image carrier through a nip portion defined between said contact member and said pressing member;
• and
• wherein a nip pressure at an inlet site of said nip portion is set higher than a nip pressure at an exit site of said nip portion.

A fixing device comprising:

• a heat contact member arranged to be able to contact one side of a recording medium while heating the one side of the recording medium on which side an unfixed toner image is carried, the toner image formed with a liquid developer including a toner dispersed in a carrier liquid;
• and
• a pressing member pressing on the other side of said recording medium for pressing said recording medium against said heat contact member, the fixing device operating to fix said unfixed toner image to the one side of said recording medium by passing said recording medium through a nip portion defined between said heat contact member and said pressing member,
• wherein a nip pressure at an inlet site of said nip portion is set lower than a nip pressure at an exit site of said nip portion.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• image forming means for forming a toner image on a surface of an image carrier by using a liquid developer including a toner dispersed in a carrier liquid;
• and
• transferring/fixing means for concurrently transferring and fixing said toner image to one side of said recording medium,
• wherein said transferring/fixing means includes a heat contact member arranged to be able to contact a back side of said image carrier while heating the back side thereof and a pressing member pressing on the other side of said recording medium for pressing said recording medium against the surface of said image carrier, and performs the transferring/fixing process by passing said recording medium and said image carrier through a nip portion defined between said heat contact member and said pressing member;
• and
• wherein a nip pressure at an inlet site of said nip portion is set lower than a nip pressure at an exit site of said nip portion.