Patent ID: 8583012

Claim:
A driving device usable with an image forming apparatus including a rotatable photoconductor, the driving device comprising: a motor; a first gear to be rotated upon receiving power from the motor and having gear teeth; and a second gear having gear teeth engaged with the gear teeth of the first gear and serving to transmit rotating power from the first gear to the photoconductor, wherein at least one of the first gear and the second gear includes a crowning portion formed at a tooth surface of each of the gear teeth such that the center of the tooth surface is more convex than both ends of the tooth surface in a tooth width direction, and wherein the crowning portion is formed to compensate for misalignment between the first gear and the second gear according to ½*W*(π/180°*θ)≦H, where H is a height measurement of the convexity of the crowning portion, W is a tooth width of the gear including the crowning portion, and θ is a misalignment angle between the first gear and the second gear measured in degrees.