US 7,321,380 B2
Laser emitter and laser scanning device
Kazuyuki Iwamoto, Chiba (Japan)
Assigned to Canon Kabushiki Kaisha, Tokyo (Japan)
Filed on Mar. 04, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/791,902.
Claims priority of application No. 2003-062436 (JP), filed on Mar. 07, 2003.
Prior Publication US 2004/0174427 A1, Sep. 09, 2004
Int. Cl. B41J 27/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 347—244  [347/258] 5 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A light scanning apparatus comprising:
a first lens barrel portion, which holds a first laser element emitting a first laser beam;
a second lens barrel portion, which holds a second laser element emitting a second laser beam,
wherein an optical axis of the first laser beam and an optical axis of the second laser beam are oriented in directions intersecting with each other so that a beam-to-beam distance between the first laser beam and the second laser beam gets shorter, and
wherein a part of a side wall of said second lens barrel portion is shared with a part of a side wall of said first lens barrel portion;
a first lens provided at a tip of said first lens barrel portion;
a second lens provided at a tip of said second lens barrel portion;
plural lens supporting portions, which support parts of circumferential surfaces of said first and second lenses, except at a position in which the circumferential surfaces of said first and second lenses are close to each other; and
a rotary polygonal mirror positioned for common scanning of first and second laser beams respectively emitted from said first and second laser elements.