Patent ID: 7692827

Claim:
An image reading apparatus comprising: light source means for illuminating a surface of an original; a plurality of mirrors for reflecting a light beam from the original illuminated by said light source means; reading means; an imaging optical system for imaging a light beam reflected by said mirrors, upon said reading means; and a scanning optical system unit which integrally accommodates said light source means, said mirrors, said reading means and said imaging optical system therein, said scanning optical system being configured to move in a sub-scan direction to read imagewise information of the original; wherein, in a sub-scan section, one of said mirrors which is optically closest to the surface of the original is disposed in an end portion of said scanning optical system unit with respect to the sub-scan direction, as compared with the other mirrors, and wherein, in the sub-scan section, a central portion of a reflection surface of said one of said mirrors which is optically closest to the surface of the original is disposed in a space between (i) a central portion of a reflection surface of one of said mirrors which is optically closest to said imaging optical system with respect to a direction orthogonal to a main-scan direction and the sub-scan direction of the surface of the original and which is disposed before a light entrance surface of said imaging optical system and (ii) a central portion of reflection surfaces of other mirrors; and wherein said mirrors include a first mirror, a second mirror, a third mirror and a fourth mirror, and wherein said first to fourth mirrors are so disposed that, in the sub-scan section, a light beam from the original is reflected by said first mirror and is subsequently incident on said second mirror, that a light beam reflected by said second mirror is incident on said third mirror, that a light beam reflected by said third mirror crosses a light path between said first mirror and said second mirror and is subsequently incident on said fourth mirror, and that a light beam reflected by said fourth mirror is incident on said imaging optical system.