Original reading apparatus having a reduced size and thickness

The invention provides an original reading apparatus which is small in overall thickness and size and light in weight. The original reading apparatus includes a body case having an original insertion opening formed in a wall thereof. An original transport passageway is formed substantially horizontally in the body case and communicated with the original insertion opening. A white roller of an original reading section and a feed roller for transporting an original are positioned along the original transport passageway and disposed in a horizontal position at a substantially same height.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION AND RELATED ART STATEMENT 
This invention relates to an original reading apparatus for reading 
contents of an original, and more particularly to an original reading 
apparatus which is reduced in overall thickness and overall size to 
facilitate carrying thereof. 
In recent years, original reading apparatuses which read contents of an 
original by an optical method or the like have been put into practical use 
and are employed for facsimile apparatuses copying apparatuses and so 
forth. Meanwhile, in the field of facsimile apparatuses or the like, it 
has been and is demanded to realize an apparatus of the portable type 
designed to facilitate carrying thereof. As an apparatus which can meet 
such demand, an apparatus of the structure has been put into practical use 
wherein an original reading apparatus for reading information of a picture 
image to be transmitted, a printing apparatus for printing picture image 
information received, a transmitter-receiver circuit for picture image 
information, an electric controlling section for controlling the 
transmitter-receiver circuit and so forth, and a power source apparatus 
for supplying power to the electric controlling section are accommodated 
in a body case and an operating section for the transmission and reception 
is provided on an upper face of the body case. In such an original reading 
apparatus of the structure suitable for carrying as described above, in 
order to reduce the apparatus in size to facilitate carrying thereof, an 
original reading section is normally employed which is constituted such 
that a contacting line image sensor is contacted with a white roller. 
While an original is normally transported to such original reading section 
by means of a feed roller, a stepping motor is commonly employed as means 
for driving such feed roller and/or white roller. In this instance, a 
rotary shaft of the stepping motor is connected to shafts of the rollers 
by way of a power transmitting mechanism such as a gear train. 
Several problems of such prior art will be described subsequently. 
Facsimile apparatuses of the portable type have conventionally been put 
into practical use which include such an internal mechanism that an 
original transport passageway passing an original reading section is 
disposed at an inclination angle of about 45 degrees and a feed roller 
having an axis extending perpendicularly to the original transport 
passageway and a contacting line reading sensor and a white roller which 
serve as the original reading section are disposed in an upward and 
downward positional relationship in the inclined original transport 
passageway. Facsimile apparatuses of the construction cannot be reduced in 
overall height below a total dimension of a diametrical dimension of the 
feed roller and a vertical dimension of the reading section, and 
accordingly, they have a drawback that it is difficult to achieve a thin 
profile of the apparatus. 
Further, where the original reading section has a structure wherein a 
closely contacting reading section is contacted with a white roller, the 
white roller commonly has a diameter greater than 20 mm or so in order to 
assure a certain amount of nip of the image sensor with respect to the 
white roller. In particular, when such original reading section is 
produced, a contacting error will take place between the white roller and 
the image sensor without fail and it is very difficult to eliminate such 
contacting error completely. Consequently, the reading accuracy of the 
original reading section depends upon the nip amount of the image sensor 
with respect to the white roller, and the smaller the nip amount, the 
smaller the tolerance of the contacting error between the white roller and 
the image sensor. On the other hand, the magnitude of the nip amount of 
the image sensor with respect to the white roller depends upon the 
diameter of the white roller, and the smaller the diameter of the white 
roller, the smaller the nip amount. Accordingly, in order to assure 
accurate reading of an original at the original reading section, it is 
necessary to make the diameter of the white roller greater than a 
particular value, and the minimum value of such diameter is 20 mm or so. 
Consequently, facsimile apparatuses of the type just mentioned have a 
drawback in that the overall thickness thereof cannot be reduced below a 
total dimension of a diameter of 20 mm or so of the white roller and a 
thickness of the image sensor. 
Further, in such a conventional apparatus as described above, the rollers 
and a stepping motor for driving the rollers are disposed such that axes 
thereof extend in parallel to each other. Consequently, the vertical 
dimension of the apparatus cannot be reduced below a diameter of the 
stepping motor. Also from this reason, the conventional apparatus has a 
drawback in that the apparatus cannot be reduced in thickness. It is to be 
noted that, while it may be recommendable to employ a stepping motor of a 
small diameter, this is not practical because a sufficient output power to 
drive the rollers cannot be obtained from such small diameter stepping 
motor. 
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is a first object of the present invention to provide an original 
reading apparatus which can be reduced in overall thickness. 
It is a second object of the present invention to provide an original 
reading apparatus which can be reduced in overall thickness and overall 
weight. 
In order to attain the objects, according to the present invention, there 
is provided an original reading apparatus which comprises a body case, 
means for defining an original insertion opening perforated in a wall of 
the body case, means for defining a substantially horizontally extending 
original transport passageway in a communicating relationship with the 
original insertion opening, a feed roller disposed for transporting an 
original introduced into the original transport passageway from the 
original insertion opening, an original reading section including a white 
roller disposed in a horizontal position at a substantially same height as 
the feed roller and having an axis extending substantially in parallel to 
an axis of the feed roller for transporting the original transported from 
the feed roller and a closely contacting line reading sensor extending in 
parallel to the axis of the white roller for contacting with the white 
roller across the original transport passageway to read data of the 
original being transported by the white roller, a motor for driving the 
feed roller and the white roller, an electric controlling section for 
electrically controlling the motor and the closely contacting line reading 
sensor, and a power source section for supplying electric power to the 
motor, the closely contacting line reading sensor and the electric 
controlling section. Accordingly, an original introduced into the original 
transport passageway from the original insertion opening is transported by 
the feed roller and the white roller, and during such transportation, 
contents of the original are read by the original reading section. The 
data thus read by the original reading section are suitably processed by 
the electric controlling section. As such processing, for example, the 
read data may be transmitted over a telephone network or stored into a 
memory, or such stored data in the memory may be outputted to a printer 
separate from the facsimile apparatus. On the other hand, since the 
original transport passageway is formed substantially horizontally and the 
feed roller and white roller are disposed, as the positions of the axes 
thereof, in a horizontal position at a substantially same height, the 
entire apparatus can be formed thin in thickness, small in size and light 
in weight.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
An original reading apparatus of an embodiment of the present invention 
will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. The original reading 
apparatus of the present embodiment is in the form a facsimile apparatus 
1. Referring first to FIG. 6, the facsimile apparatus 1 includes a body 
case 3 of a generally flattened profile. An original insertion opening 2 
in the form of a slit for inserting an original into the facsimile 
apparatus 1 therethrough is formed at a substantially mid portion of an 
upper wall of the body case 3, and an operating section 4 is disposed at a 
front portion of the upper wall of the body case 3 while a gripping 
section 5 for facilitating holding of the apparatus by a hand is formed at 
a rear edge portion of the upper wall of the body case 3. The original 
insertion opening 2, operating section 4 and gripping section 5 are 
disposed such that the lengths thereof coincide with the longitudinal 
direction, that is, leftward and rightward directions, of the body case 3. 
Further, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, an original discharging opening 
8 in the form of a slit is formed in a front end wall of the body case 3, 
and an original transport passageway 10 is formed substantially 
horizontally in the inside of the body case 3 such that it establishes 
communication between the original discharging opening 8 and original 
insertion opening 2 past below the operating section 4. A feed roller 9 is 
disposed in the neighborhood of the original insertion opening 2 such that 
an axis thereof extends perpendicularly to the original transport 
passageway 10 while an original reading section 7 is disposed adjacent 
another central location of the original transport passageway 10. Here, 
the original reading section 7 is formed such that a white roller 11 
disposed in a horizontal position at a substantially same height as the 
feed roller 9 and an image sensor 12 in the form of a closely contacting 
line reading sensor for contacting with the white roller 11 in a condition 
a little inclined from a horizontal plane are disposed in an opposing 
relationship to each other across the original transport passageway 10. 
The image sensor 12 is disposed between rotary shafts 9a and 11a of the 
feed roller 9 and white roller 11. Further, a stepping motor 6 having a 
flattened general profile is disposed at a rear location in the inside of 
the body case 3 and is connected to the feed roller 9 and white roller 11 
by way of a power transmitting mechanism 30. The stepping motor 6, feed 
roller 9 and original reading section 7 are disposed in a juxtaposed 
relationship in this order in a horizontal position at a substantially 
same height. 
Here, the original reading section 7 will be described in more detail. 
First, the white roller 11 is formed with a very small diameter of about 
10 mm, and the white roller 11 and the feed roller 9 are supported for 
rotation on a mechanism frame 13 secured in the body case 3. Meanwhile, 
the image sensor 12 is secured in an inclined condition to a positioning 
frame 14 which is supported for pivotal motion on the rotary shaft 9a of 
the feed roller 9. The positioning frame 14 is normally urged upwardly by 
a spring 15 which extends between the positioning frame 14 and the 
mechanism frame 13. The positioning frame 14 has a U-shaped recess 20 
formed at a rear end portion thereof for fitting with the rotary shaft 9a 
of the feed roller 9. Accordingly, the image sensor 12, white roller 11 
and feed roller 9 are positioned relative to each other by the positioning 
frame 14. It is to be noted that a connector 17 is provided at an end 
portion of a lower face of the image sensor 12 and extends downwardly. 
Consequently, the overall height of the original reading section 7 is 
reduced as the image sensor 12 is disposed in an inclined condition as 
illustrated in FIG. 5. 
Subsequently, the power transmitting mechanism 30 has a structure wherein 
an input power shaft and an output power shaft extend perpendicularly to 
each other as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. In particular, the stepping 
motor 6 is disposed such that a rotary shaft 6a thereof is directed in a 
vertical direction, and a drive gear 31 is secured to the rotary shaft 6a 
of the stepping motor 6. An outputting direction changing gear train 33 is 
connected to the drive gear 31 by way of a first idler gear 32. The 
outputting direction changing gear train 33 includes a pair of gears 
including a pair of spur gears 34a and 34b and another pair of bevel gears 
35a and 35b formed in a coaxial relationship to each other, respectively, 
with the bevel gears 35a and 35b held in meshing engagement with each 
other and changes the inputting direction and the outputting direction by 
90 degrees by meshing engagement between the bevel gears 35a and 35b. In 
particular, the first idler gear 32 is connected to the outputting 
direction changing gear train 33 as it is engaged with the spur gear 34a, 
and the spur gear 34b of the outputting direction changing gear train 33 
is connected to a fourth idler gear 38 by way of second and third idler 
gears 36 and 37. Then, a follower gear 39 secured to the rotary shaft 9a 
of the feed roller 9 is connected to the fourth idler gear 38 while 
another follower gear 41 secured to the rotary shaft 11a of the white 
roller 11 is connected to the fourth idler gear 38 by way of a fifth idler 
gear 40. 
Further, the operating section 4 includes ten keys 4a, a start key 4b and a 
stop key 4c as well as various function keys 4d, a liquid crystal display 
section 4e and so forth. Meanwhile, the gripping section 5 has a structure 
suitable for the gripping by providing antislipping processing to a 
surface thereof, for example, such that the surface thereof is covered 
with a rubber layer on which a large number of depressions or recessed 
grooves are formed successively. Then, an electric controlling section not 
shown for executing driving control of various electric components and a 
power source section 50 for supplying an electric power to the various 
electric components including the operating section 4 and the stepping 
motor 6. Here, the power source section 50 is removably mounted at a rear 
end of the body case 3 in a horizontal direction as illustrated in FIG. 6. 
With the facsimile apparatus 1 of such construction as described above, an 
original is first inserted into the original insertion opening 2 while the 
facsimile apparatus 1 is connected to an external circuit by way of a 
cable not shown, and then a facsimile number of the other party is 
inputted by way of the ten keys 4a, and after then, the start key 4b of 
the operating section 4 is depressed. Consequently, a connected condition 
of the circuit with the other party is established and thereafter 
maintained so that a transmitting operation of picture image information 
of the original is performed. In particular, the stepping motor 6 is 
driven under the control of the electric controlling section to rotate the 
rotary shaft 6a thereof, and such rotation of the rotary shaft 6a is 
transmitted to the rollers 9 and 11 by way of the power transmitting 
mechanism 30. More particularly, the drive gear 31 secured to the rotary 
shaft 6a is rotated, and such rotation is transmitted by way of the first 
idler gear 32 to the outputting direction changing gear train 33 in which 
the outputting direction is changed by 90 degrees from the inputting 
direction, whereafter it is transmitted to the fourth idler gear 38 by way 
of the second and third idler gears 36 and 37. Then, the rotation of the 
fourth idler gear 38 is transmitted to the follower gear 39 to rotate the 
feed roller 9 while it is also transmitted to the other follower gear 41 
to rotate the white roller 11, and the original is transported along the 
original transport passageway 10 by such rotation of the rollers 9 and 11. 
The transporting original forces a pivoting movement of the frame 14 on 
which the image sensor 12 is secured against the urging of the spring 15. 
During such transportation of the original, picture image information of 
the original is read by the image sensor 12, as the original passes 
between the white roller 11 and the image sensor 12. Thus read picture 
image information is transmitted from the transmitting circuit of the 
electric controlling section to the external circuit. On the other hand, a 
reproducing operation of such picture image information is performed with 
a facsimile apparatus (not shown) of the other party which receives the 
thus transmitted picture image information from the facsimile apparatus 1. 
It is to be noted that, upon such reading and transmitting operations of 
picture image information of the original, presence or absence of the 
original being transported or transporting conditions of the original such 
as a transporting speed are detected by transport detecting means not 
shown which is formed from a photosensor or the like, and the components 
of the facsimile apparatus 1 are controlled by the electric controlling 
section while referring to a result of such detection. 
Meanwhile, in the facsimile apparatus 1, since the original transport 
passageway 10 is formed substantially horizontally and the feed roller 9 
and the white roller 11 are disposed substantially horizontally, the 
entire apparatus can be formed with a small thickness. 
Such small thickness of the entire apparatus is realized also by the 
construction wherein the stepping motor 6 of a generally flattened profile 
is disposed such that the rotary shaft 6a thereof is directed in a 
vertical direction and the rotary shaft 6a is connected by way of the 
power transmitting mechanism 30 to the rotary shafts 9a and 11a of the 
rollers 9 and 11 which are directed in a horizontal direction. 
Also, the fact that the diameter of the white roller 11 is small at about 
10 mm contributes to reduction in overall size and overall thickness of 
the apparatus. Here, if the white roller 11 is reduced in diameter, then 
generally the nip amount of the image sensor 12 with respect to the white 
roller 11 is reduced and the reading accuracy is deteriorated as described 
hereinabove. According to the original reading apparatus of the present 
embodiment, however, since the white roller 11 and the image sensor 12 are 
held on the positioning frame 14 to improve the relative positioning 
accuracy of them, even if the diameter of the white roller 11 is reduced 
to almost 10 mm, a sufficiently high reading accuracy is maintained. 
Accordingly, reduction in overall thickness, overall size and overall 
weight of the apparatus involved in reduction in diameter of the white 
roller 11 is achieved. 
Further, since the image sensor 12 is a closely contacting line reading 
sensor having the connector 17 provided projectingly at the rear end 
portion of the lower face thereof and is disposed in an inclined condition 
in the original transport passageway 10 in an intersecting relationship to 
the original transport passageway 10, the overall height of the original 
reading section 7 is reduced by a distance substantially equal to a height 
of the connector 17. From a different point of view, an effective spacing 
is produced at a location at which the connector 17 is disposed due to the 
fact that the image sensor 12 is disposed in such an inclined condition as 
described above. Thus, in the present embodiment, the connector 17 is 
disposed in such effective spacing so that the depthwise dimension of the 
apparatus which may be increased if the connector 17 is otherwise disposed 
in a horizontally extending condition at the rear end of the image sensor 
12 is decreased. Accordingly, reduction in overall size and overall 
thickness is achieved. 
It is to be noted that it has been confirmed by the applicant that, even 
where the facsimile apparatus 1 of such structure as described above is 
designed such that an original, for example, at least of the A4 size or 
the letter size can be read smoothly and well, the body case 3 can be 
produced with the thickness of 30 mm or so. 
Thus, since the facsimile apparatus 1 is reduced in overall thickness, 
overall size and overall weight, the portability of the apparatus is 
improved and a transmitting operation while the apparatus is held by one 
hand can be performed readily. 
It is to be noted that, while the facsimile apparatus 1 of the present 
embodiment is shown including, as the power transmitting mechanism 30 
wherein the axes of the input power shaft and the output power shaft 
extend perpendicularly to each other, the gear train including a pair of 
bevel gears 35a and 35b, the present invention is not limited to the 
specific arrangement, and for example, a gear train which includes a worm 
gear or a crown gear, a wrapping transmission mechanism including a 
combination of a belt and a pulley, or the like may be employed for such 
power transmitting mechanism 30.