Patent ID: 8373911

Claim:
An image reading apparatus, comprising: a main unit including a flatbed plane, on which a document sheet to be read is placed, and an image reader, which is movable in a range between a stop position at one side of the flatbed plane and the other side of the flatbed plane along a predetermined moving direction and is capable of reading an image on the document sheet placed on the flatbed plane; and a conveyer unit, which is coupled to the main unit via a main hinge to be swingable about a swing axis, the swing axis extending along a direction in parallel with the moving direction of the image reader, and movable between a closed position to cover the flatbed plane and an open position to expose the flatbed plane; wherein the main hinge comprises an in-main-unit fixing section, which is fixed to the main unit, and a rotatable fixing section, which is fixed to one of end positions along a direction of the swing axis of the conveyer unit, and generates torque to act on the conveyer unit when the conveyer unit is moved to the open position; wherein the conveyer unit comprises a lower cover, which faces the flatbed plane when the conveyer unit is in the closed position, a sheet conveyer, which is arranged on the lower cover and conveys the document sheet toward the image reader being at the stop position, and a rigid attachable member, which is attached to the lower cover; wherein the lower cover is formed to comprise an elongated-shaped opening, which extends along a direction orthogonal to the swing axis in a higher position with respect to the image reader being at the stop position when the conveyer unit is in the closed position, and over which the document sheet being conveyed by the sheet conveyer passes; wherein the opening includes paired orthogonal edges extending orthogonally to the swing axis of the conveyer unit, wherein, when a virtual line including one of the paired orthogonal edges closer to a widthwise center of the lower cover is provided, the lower cover includes a main area, which ranges from the virtual line to the other of the end positions along the direction of the swing axis of the conveyer unit, and an auxiliary area, which ranges from the virtual line to the one of the end positions along the direction of the swing axis of the conveyer unit; and wherein the attachable member extends in a range including a part of the main area and a part of the auxiliary area to straddle the virtual line between the main area and the auxiliary area and comprises a main part, which is arranged in the part of the main area, and an auxiliary part, which is arranged in the part of the auxiliary area; and wherein the attachable member is fixed to the lower cover by the main part and to the rotatable fixing section by the auxiliary part.