Patent ID: 6845911

Claim:
An optical reader comprising: an optical reading device for reading a document by scanning read lines on the document placed on a document glass table in a scanning direction which is perpendicular to the read lines and using light reflected from the document along an optic axis plane which contains a read line of said read lines and extends in perpendicular to the document glass table; an illumination device for illuminating the read lines from both sides of said optic axis plane; and a light amount adjusting member for adjusting such that the amounts of light illuminated from both sides of said optic axis plane are substantially the same at the read line, wherein said illumination device includes an exposure lamp emitting illumination light toward said read line from one side of said optic axis plane along a first light path and illumination light toward the other side of said optic axis plane along a second light path, and a reflector member reflecting said illumination light emitted toward the other side of said optic axis plane along said second light path toward said read line along a third light path.