Patent ID: 7471433

Claim:
An optical scanning apparatus comprising: a polygonal rotatable mirror which deflects a light beam emitted from a light source; a drive motor which rotates said polygonal rotatable mirror at high speeds and has a bearing that generates heat from the high speed rotation and a board mounted on the bearing; and an optical box that has a fitting hole in a bottom face engaged with the bearing to hold said drive motor and that has seat surfaces on the bottom face of said optical box, each of the seat surfaces having a height to form a gap between the bottom face of said optical box and the board, wherein said drive motor is mounted inside said optical box through the bearing fitted in the fitting hole and is fixed to said optical box by fixing the board on the seat surfaces, and wherein the fitting hole has a plurality of notch portions to draw heat from the bearing outside said optical box and an annular rib protruding inside said optical box so as to surround an outer periphery of the fitting hole of said optical box and be in an area in which the board is projected onto the bottom portion of said optical box.