Patent ID: 7319475

Claim:
An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image bearing member having a photosensitive surface; and an optical writing apparatus generating a laser beam modulated according to image data, the optical writing apparatus comprising: a housing; an optical deflector configured to deflect the laser beam; a lens configured to correct the laser beam deflected by the optical deflector and to transmit a corrected laser beam towards the image bearing member; and a separator configured to separate an inside space of the housing into at least two sections including a first section and a second section, wherein the housing includes a flat box with the first and second sections at upper and lower sides thereof, respectively, and the first section includes the optical deflector and the second section includes the lens, wherein the first and second sections have a shape in cross-section in which the first section includes a chamber protruding vertically downward at an approximately center thereof and vertically separating the second section into two subsections, and wherein the optical deflector is mounted at a bottom of the chamber of the first section.