Patent ID: 7619797

Claim:
An optical scanning apparatus comprising: a housing including: a plurality of light sources; at least one deflection mirror deflecting light beams from the light sources; and at least one optical image forming element that forms images by focusing the light beams scanned by the deflection mirror, wherein the light sources, the deflection mirror and the optical image forming element are accommodated in and integrally supported by said housing; a plurality of image forming stations that lead the light beams exiting said housing to a plurality of image carriers, respectively; a pair of support members that face each other to support said housing in a main scanning direction so as to position a plurality of reflectors corresponding to the respective image forming stations in a plane perpendicular to the main scanning direction; and a support frame that couples said pair of support members to maintain relative positions of said support members to each other, wherein said housing is supported by said pair of support members by being bridged over said pair of support members so that said housing is positioned in the plane perpendicular to the main scanning direction at one of said pair of support members and positioned in the scanning direction by contacting a flange surface of said housing with the other of said pair of support members.