Patent attributes
The image heating apparatus for heating an image formed on a recording material, comprises a flexible sleeve; a driving roller which contacts an outer peripheral surface of said sleeve and rotates said sleeve; a sliding member which contacts an inner peripheral surface of said sleeve and forms said driving roller together with a nip portion by nipping said sleeve between thereof; and an inner surface regulating member comprising an opposing area opposed to the inner peripheral surface of a generatrix direction end portion of said sleeve; wherein the recording material is nipped and conveyed by the nip portion; and wherein a outlineoutline of the opposing area of said inner surface regulating member is approximately similar to the outlineoutline of the end face of said sleeve when said sleeve is rotated by said driving roller in a state in which said inner surface regulating member is not attached to said apparatus. In this way, the durability of the flexible sleeve can be enhanced.
