JP2006058462A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus provided with an optical scanner in which the image quality is hardly deteriorated. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is provided with an optical scanner in which a plurality of light beams are introduced to a deflection means 26, reflected on the deflection means 26, and separated into a plurality of directions by a separation means 30, and a plurality of bodies to be scanned 16, 18, 20 and 22 are scanned with respective light beams. An adjustment mechanism for at least an optical element among optical elements with which a plurality of light beams which are so reflected to be separated substantially in the same direction with the separation means 30 are transmitted or reflected, is separately formed, the behavior of displacement between the plurality of light beams reflected substantially in the same direction are not in a same direction, thus an excellent image quality with which a color slurring is not remarkable is obtained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a digital copying machine or a laser beam printer using an optical scanning device.

  In general, in an image forming apparatus such as a full-color or black-and-white copying machine or printer using an electrophotographic system, for example, a photosensitive member formed in a drum shape in a developing device is uniformly charged, and this photosensitive member is used as an optical scanning device. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive member by exposure with light controlled by the (scanning optical device) based on the image information. The electrostatic latent image is converted into a visible image (toner image) with toner, and the toner image is further transferred onto a recording paper (recording medium), which is fixed by a fixing device to form an image.

  Further, as a conventional color image forming apparatus, as a light scanning device, light beams emitted from four light sources are transmitted through two sets of scanning lenses from both directions orthogonal to the rotation axis across the rotation axis of the polygon mirror. Thus, there is a technique using a so-called spray paint type optical scanning device that divides a light beam and guides it to four photosensitive members (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

However, in such a conventional spray paint type optical scanning device, as shown in FIG. 11, four color light beams yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) are used as a polygon mirror. Are separated in two directions, so that the deviation of the optical beam due to the displacement of the optical component due to a change in the housing due to temperature rise or an impact is separated by the separating means (for example, yellow (Y), The magenta (M) beam set and the cyan (C) and black (K) beam set behave in the same manner, and the deviation of the two optical paths is reflected in the color shift in the image as it is. Therefore, there is a problem that the color shift is conspicuous and the image quality is liable to deteriorate.
JP-A-11-109265

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides a new image forming apparatus including an optical scanning device that is unlikely to deteriorate image quality.

  The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 of the present invention guides a plurality of light beams to the deflecting unit, separates the light beam reflected by the deflecting unit into light beams in a plurality of directions by the separating unit, and each of the light beams includes a plurality of light beams. In an image forming apparatus including an optical scanning device that scans a scanning body, at least one of optical elements that respectively transmit or reflect a plurality of light beams reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by a separating unit. The adjustment mechanism is configured as a separate body.

  With the above-described configuration, even when a deviation of the light beam occurs at an adjustment point where the position of the optical component can be moved due to a rise in temperature or an impact in the image forming apparatus, the separation unit causes the beam to move in approximately the same direction. Since the reflected light beams are respectively transmitted or reflected by the adjustment mechanisms of the optical elements configured separately, the behavior of the deviation between the plurality of light beams reflected in substantially the same direction is not constant, It is possible to obtain a good image quality in which color misregistration is not noticeable.

  The image forming apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention guides a plurality of light beams to the deflecting unit, separates the light beam reflected by the deflecting unit into light beams in a plurality of directions by the separating unit, and each of the light beams receives a plurality of light beams. In an image forming apparatus including an optical scanning device that scans a scanning body, each adjustment mechanism of a plurality of optical elements that transmits or reflects a plurality of light beams that are reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by a separating unit is It is characterized by being arranged so as to be reversed on the start side and the end side in the scanning direction.

  With the above-described configuration, even when a deviation of the light beam occurs at an adjustment point where the position of the optical component can be moved due to a rise in temperature or an impact in the image forming apparatus, the separation unit causes the beam to move in approximately the same direction. A set of traveling beams is reflected in substantially the same direction by installing one beam mechanism on the optical scanning start side and another beam mechanism on the optical scanning end side. By making the behavior of the shift between the plurality of light beams different, it is possible to obtain a good image quality in which color misregistration is not noticeable.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, the skew adjustment is performed to adjust the inclination of the scanning light beam with respect to the drum axis in the plurality of light beams reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by the separating unit. The mechanism is arranged such that the start side and the end side in the optical scanning direction are opposite to each other.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, the irradiation position in the sub-scanning direction of the scanning light beam among the plurality of light beams reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by the separating unit is adjusted. The lead registration adjusting mechanism is arranged such that the start side and the end side in the optical scanning direction are opposite to each other.

  The image forming apparatus according to claim 5 of the present invention guides a plurality of light beams to the deflecting unit, and separates the light beams reflected by the deflecting unit into light beams in a plurality of directions by the separating unit. In the image forming apparatus including the optical scanning device that scans the scanning body, the plurality of bow adjustment mechanisms that adjust the curvature of the scanning light beam in the plurality of light beams reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by the separating unit, The present invention is characterized in that the pressing direction for the optical component is different.

  By configuring as described above, the plurality of bow adjustment mechanisms are reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by the separating means by changing the pressurizing direction for adjusting the curvature of the scanning beam. By making the behavior of the plurality of light beams different, it is possible to obtain a good image quality in which color misregistration is not noticeable in terms of image quality.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, even if the optical scanning device image side shifts the optical path of the light beam due to the change of the housing due to the temperature rise or the displacement of the optical component due to the impact on the image side, the color misregistration is not noticeable. Therefore, there is an effect that the image quality can be hardly deteriorated by obtaining a good image quality.

Embodiments of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus provided with the spray paint type optical scanning apparatus according to this embodiment is configured as a tandem type full color printer. Inside the main body 10 of this full-color printer, there are a ROS (Raster Output Scanner) which is a spray paint type optical scanning device 12 and a print head device 14 (Print Head Device) which is an image forming unit for forming a full-color image. is set up.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the print head device 14 includes four photosensitive drums (scanned bodies) 16, 18, 20, and 22 as image carriers. The optical scanning device 12 performs image exposure processing on the four photosensitive drums 16, 18, 20, and 22. Each of the four photosensitive drums 16, 18, 20, and 22, which are image carriers incorporated in the print head device 14, is provided with a developing device 23 for each color.

  In the main body 10 of this full-color printer, the print head device 14 receives a supply of a recording medium (recording paper) from a paper feed cassette 25 to transfer a toner image, and the fixing device 27 fixes the toner image to the recording medium to which the toner image is transferred. The recording medium that has been processed and on which the image is formed is configured to be discharged onto a discharge tray.

  The optical scanning device 12 includes four laser beams including image information of each color of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K), which are not shown, inside the housing 24. A laser light source including a semiconductor laser array that emits light is provided. The laser beam emitted from the laser light source passes through a collimator lens and a cylindrical lens, is adjusted to a parallel beam, and is incident on a rotating reflecting mirror (for example, a polygon mirror device) 26 serving as a deflecting unit.

  The laser beam reflected by the rotary reflecting mirror 26 that is the deflecting means passes through the scanning lens 28 and enters the separating polygon mirror 30 that is the separating means. The reflecting surface of the separating polygonal mirror 30 is formed by a plane (two orthogonal planes) including two adjacent sides of a substantially square shape. The position of the laser light source is adjusted so that four laser beams are incident on the separating polygon mirror 30 at an optical path in which two laser beams are symmetric at approximately equal intervals.

  In each direction reflected by the reflecting surface of the separating polygon mirror 30 as the separating means, four reflecting mirrors 32 that respectively reflect the four lasers are arranged at substantially symmetrical positions with respect to the separating polygon mirror 30. ing. Respective laser beams reflected by these reflecting mirrors 32 are incident on and reflected by cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D as optical elements arranged at four positions almost symmetrical with respect to the separating polygonal mirror 30. The

  The laser beams reflected by the four cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D as optical elements pass through substantially parallel four optical paths, respectively, and 4 as an image carrier that is a corresponding scanned object. The light enters one of the photosensitive drums 16, 18, 20, and 22 (an image carrier other than the photosensitive drum may be used) to form an electrostatic latent image on the surface thereof.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the full-color printer main body 10, a black image formed on a photosensitive drum 22 as a scanned object, a yellow image formed on a photosensitive drum 16 as a scanned object, After sequentially transferring the magenta image formed on the photosensitive drum 18 as the scanning body and the cyan image formed on the photosensitive drum 20 as the scanning body to the intermediate transfer body 36 conveyed in one direction at a constant speed. Then, a color image can be obtained by collectively transferring to a sheet (recording medium).

  In the tandem color optical scanning apparatus configured as described above, it is necessary to adjust the color registration for the four scanning rays. For example, in this optical scanning apparatus, the scanning line inclination (hereinafter referred to as skew), the sub-scanning irradiation position (hereinafter referred to as lead registration) in the direction orthogonal to the scanning direction (arrow D direction in FIG. 6), and the scanning line curvature (hereinafter referred to as “scanning”). Color registration is corrected by adjusting all four bows).

  In the optical scanning device 12, in order to adjust color registration, adjustment mechanisms are provided in the cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D as optical elements. As shown in FIG. 7, the adjustment mechanisms of the cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D are arranged in a housing (not shown) so that the support members 40 respectively installed near the both ends of the cylindrical mirror member 38 can be adjusted. Install and configure.

  The support member 40 is made of sheet metal and is formed in a rectangular bowl shape. A cylindrical mirror member 38 is inserted into an opening formed in the center of the support member 40, and the cylindrical mirror member 38 is supported using a leaf spring or the like (not shown). The cylindrical mirror member 38 is configured to be supportable in a state where it is biased so as not to move relative to the receiving member 40. Although not shown, each support member 40 is fixed to the housing 24 so that its mounting state can be changed and adjusted.

  In the adjustment mechanism of the cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D configured as described above, the scanning line is adjusted by adjusting the mounting position of each support member 40 with respect to the housing 24. The support member 40 is fixed, and the color registration adjustment is completed.

  Further, the adjustment mechanism of the cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D is made of a resin having recesses into which both end portions of the cylindrical mirror member 38 can be inserted as shown in FIG. You may comprise using holders 42, such as.

  The holder 42 is attached by fitting respective concave portions to both ends of the cylindrical mirror member 38 and fixing them by means such as adhesion or press fitting. Further, a support member (not shown) is fitted and installed on the outer periphery of each holder 42. Although not shown in the drawing, these support members are fixed to the housing 24 so that their mounting states can be changed and adjusted.

  The adjustment mechanism of the cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D shown in FIG. 8 adjusts the scanning line by adjusting and fixing the mounting positions of the support members 40 with respect to the housing 24 as described above.

  Further, the adjustment mechanism of the cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D using the sheet metal support member 40 shown in FIG. 7 is used when the housing (housing) 24 changes due to a temperature rise and the fluctuation of the scanning line is large. Suitable for use. Further, when the fluctuation of the scanning line due to the temperature rise is small, the color shift can be made inconspicuous by using the resin holder 42 of the adjusting mechanism of the cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, 34D shown in FIG. In addition, you may comprise so that the same effect may be acquired by changing not only the adjustment mechanism but the material and board thickness of the member holding an optical component.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the optical scanning device for tandem color is separated and reflected by the separation polygon mirror 30 which is a separation means by two colors up and down. The optical path is set so that the yellow beam is reflected by the cylindrical mirror 34A arranged at the uppermost position on the upper side of the lens 30, and the magenta beam is reflected by the cylindrical mirror 34B arranged at the lower side of the cylindrical mirror 34A. The optical path is set so that the cyan beam is reflected by the cylindrical mirror 34C and the black beam is reflected by the cylindrical mirror 34D arranged at the lowest position below the cyan beam.

  Further, in this optical scanning apparatus for tandem color, adjustment of lead registration or skew is arranged on one side of each cylindrical mirror 34A, 34B, 34C, 34D in the scanning direction (arrow D direction in FIG. 6). Can be done with the mechanism. For this reason, each of the cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D has a lead registration adjustment mechanism disposed at one end and a skew adjustment mechanism disposed at the other end.

  Further, in this optical scanning apparatus for tandem color, the separation polygon mirror 30 uses a lead registration adjustment mechanism for the yellow beam and cyan beam reflected upward in FIG. 2, and the yellow beam is in the scanning direction (the direction of arrow D in FIG. 6). ) Is arranged so that the cyan beam is on the scanning end side. At the same time, the skew adjustment mechanism is arranged on the side opposite to the arrangement of the lead registration adjustment mechanism, and is arranged such that the yellow beam is on the scanning end side and the cyan beam is on the scanning start side.

  Further, in this tandem color optical scanning device, a magenta beam lead registration adjustment mechanism is arranged on the scanning start side with respect to the optical path of the magenta beam and the black beam reflected downward with respect to the separating polygon mirror 30. Then, a black beam lead registration adjustment mechanism is arranged on the scanning end side. At the same time, the skew adjustment mechanism arranges the magenta beam skew adjustment mechanism on the scanning end side and the black beam skew adjustment mechanism on the scanning start side.

  Next, a lead registration adjusting mechanism in the optical scanning device 12 will be described with reference to FIG.

  In this lead registration adjusting mechanism, in the cylindrical mirrors 34A and 34B, the cylindrical mirror member 38 is set on the mirror holder 46 and fastened and held by the fixing adjustment screw 44 on both sides and the fixing adjustment screw 45 on the center.

  In addition, a rectangular opening 52 for attachment is formed at the attachment position of the mirror holder 46 in the housing 24 of the optical scanning device 12, and a screw 56 is fastened to a screw hole 57 drilled at a predetermined position around the rectangular opening 52. As a result, the metal receiving member 50 is fixed to the peripheral portion of the rectangular opening 52.

  In this lead registration adjusting mechanism, the boss 48 of the mirror holder 46 is inserted into a support hole 54 formed in the metal receiving member 50 so as to be rotatably supported.

  When adjusting the lead registration with the adjusting mechanism provided on the cylindrical mirrors 34A and 34B, a separately prepared jig 60 is inserted into the through hole 58 provided in the metal receiving member 50, and the jig 60 projects. The eccentric holder 62 is rotated around the boss 48 by rotating the jig 60 with the eccentric pin 62 inserted in the U-shaped notch 64 formed in the mirror holder 46. By rotating, the position of the cylindrical mirror member 38 can be adjusted, and the respective sub-scanning positions with respect to the corresponding photosensitive drums 16, 18, 20, and 22 can be adjusted. In this lead registration adjusting mechanism, after adjusting the cylindrical mirror member 38 to a desired position, the screw 64 is screwed into the screw hole 66 of the mirror holder 46, thereby fixing the metal receiving member 50 and the mirror holder 46 and adjusting. To complete.

  Next, a skew adjustment mechanism provided in the cylindrical mirrors 34C and 34D of the optical scanning device 12 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  In this skew adjustment mechanism, the boss 68 provided on the mirror holder 46 in the cylindrical mirrors 34 </ b> C and 34 </ b> D is attached to the shaft hole 72 of the support adjustment fitting 70. In addition, a rectangular opening 76 for attachment is formed at the attachment position of the mirror holder 46 in the housing 24 of the optical scanning device 12, and a support adjustment fitting 70 is fastened with a screw 78 around the rectangular opening 76.

  A notch 80 through which the pin 74 provided in the housing 24 is slidably inserted is formed in the support adjusting bracket 70, and the direction perpendicular to the normal A of the cylindrical mirror (shown in FIG. 10B) is formed. It is configured so that the movement can be adjusted only to B (shown in FIG. 10B).

  When adjusting the skew with the adjustment mechanism configured as described above, a separately prepared jig 60 is inserted into the through hole 82 provided in the support adjustment fitting 70, and the eccentric pin 62 protruding from the jig 60 is inserted. By rotating the jig 60 by rotating the jig 60 while being inserted into the operation through hole 84 drilled in the mirror holder 46, the mirror holder 46 is rotated around the boss 68 by the eccentric pin 62. The position is moved in a direction B perpendicular to the normal A of the cylindrical mirror to cause the cylindrical mirror bus to be inclined, and the inclination of each scanning line on the corresponding photosensitive drum 16, 18, 20, 22 is adjusted. Can do.

  In this skew adjustment mechanism, after adjusting the cylindrical mirror member 38 to a desired position, the screw 78 is screwed into a screw hole 79 provided in the housing 24, thereby fixing the support adjusting bracket 70 and the housing 24 for adjustment. Complete.

  Next, the bow adjustment mechanism in the optical scanning device 12 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  This bow adjusting mechanism is provided in each of the cylindrical mirrors 34A, 34B, 34C, and 34D. The cylindrical mirror member 38 is set in the mirror holder 46, and each side of the upper long plate portion of the mirror holder 46 in FIG. A view of a fixed adjustment screw 44 arranged at a predetermined position, a fixed adjustment screw 45 arranged at a central predetermined position in the long plate portion, and a mirror holder 46 corresponding to the central position of one fixed adjustment screw 44 and the fixed adjustment screw 45 9 and the cradle member 88 disposed on the lower side in FIG. 9 of the mirror holder 46 corresponding to the center position of the other fixing adjustment screw 44 and the fixing adjustment screw 45. Configure as follows.

  In the bow adjusting mechanism configured as described above, the cylindrical mirror member 38 is bent in the longitudinal direction by adjusting the screwing amount when the central fixing adjusting screw 45 or the fixing adjusting screws 44 on both sides are screwed into the mirror holder 46. Thus, the scanning line curve can be adjusted.

  Further, in the optical scanning device 12, as indicated by an arrow C in FIG. 4, the screwing direction (pressing direction) of the fixing adjustment screw 44 and the fixing adjustment screw 45 with respect to each cylindrical mirror 34 is set. That is, in the cylindrical mirrors 34A and 34B arranged on the upper side of the figure with respect to the separating polygonal mirror 30 in FIG. 4, the fixing adjustment screw 44 and the fixing adjustment screw 45 are set so that the screwing directions thereof are opposite to each other. In the cylindrical mirrors 34C and 34D arranged on the lower side of the separation polygon mirror 30 in FIG. 4, the screwing directions of the fixing adjustment screw 44 and the fixing adjustment screw 45 are separated from each other (the back of each other). (Direction to leave).

  With this configuration, the pressing directions indicated by arrows C for curving the cylindrical mirrors 34A and 34C that respectively reflect the two beams reflected by the same reflecting surface of the separating polygonal mirror 30 are made different (opposing). 11), the behavior of the two laser beams reflected by the same reflecting surface of the separating polygon mirror 30 is different, and the color registration variation is divided into two (states illustrated in FIG. 11). ) Is eliminated, the color registration shift can be made inconspicuous as shown in FIG.

  Further, in this optical scanning device 12, the adjustment mechanism portion provided with the movable mechanism may be fluctuated due to external factors such as temperature rise and impact. When the variation occurs as described above, the behavior of the two laser beams can be changed by making the adjustment positions of the two beams reflected by the same reflecting surface of the separating polygon mirror 30 different as shown in FIG. In contrast, since the color registration variation is not divided into two lines, as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to make the color registration misalignment inconspicuous and to obtain a good image quality in which the color misregistration is not conspicuous.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to embodiment mentioned above, Of course, it can take other various structures in the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.

1 is a schematic longitudinal sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a main part of an optical scanning device and a print head device installed inside an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state of an optical path between an optical scanning device and a print head device in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the adjustment direction with respect to each cylindrical mirror in the optical scanning device of the image forming apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which color registration misalignment can be made inconspicuous in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing a state in which a light beam is scanned from an optical scanning device to a photosensitive drum of a print head device in an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a color registration adjusting mechanism mounted on a cylindrical mirror member in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows the other structural example of the color registration adjustment mechanism with which the cylindrical mirror member with which the image forming apparatus concerning embodiment of this invention is mounted | worn. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a lead registration adjusting mechanism in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. (A) is an exploded perspective view showing a skew adjustment mechanism in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and (B) is an explanatory view showing the movement adjustment direction of the cylindrical mirror. It is explanatory drawing which illustrates the state which produces a color registration shift in the conventional image forming apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Full-color printer main body 12 Optical scanning device 14 Print head device 16 Photosensitive drum 18 Photosensitive drum 20 Photosensitive drum 22 Photosensitive drum 24 Housing 26 Rotating reflecting mirror 30 Separation polygon mirror 32 Reflecting mirror 34A Cylindrical mirror 34B Cylindrical mirror 34C Cylindrical mirror 34D Cylindrical mirror 38 Cylindrical mirror member 40 Support member 42 Holder 42 Resin holder 44 Fixing adjustment screw 45 Fixing adjustment screw 46 Mirror holder 48 Boss 50 Receiving member 52 Rectangular opening 54 Reception hole 68 Boss 70 Bearing adjustment fitting 72 Shaft hole 76 Rectangular opening 84 Operation through hole 86 Receiving member

Claims (5)

Image formation including an optical scanning device that guides a plurality of light beams to a deflecting unit, separates light beams reflected by the deflecting unit into light beams in a plurality of directions by a separating unit, and scans a plurality of scanned objects with each light beam. In the device
An optical scanning characterized in that an adjustment mechanism for at least one optical element among the optical elements that transmits or reflects each of the plurality of light beams reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by the separation means is configured separately. An image forming apparatus including the apparatus. Image formation provided with an optical scanning device that guides a plurality of light beams to a deflecting unit, separates the light beams reflected by the deflecting unit into light beams in a plurality of directions by a separating unit, and scans a plurality of scanned objects with each light beam In the device
The adjustment mechanisms of the plurality of optical elements that respectively transmit or reflect the plurality of light beams reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by the separation unit are reversed on the start side and the end side in the light scanning direction. An image forming apparatus provided with an optical scanning device.   A skew adjustment mechanism that adjusts the inclination of the scanning light beam with respect to the drum axis in the plurality of light beams reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by the separation unit is reversed between the start side and the end side in the optical scanning direction. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus is arranged as described above.   A lead registration adjustment mechanism for adjusting the irradiation position of the scanning light beam in the sub-scanning direction among the plurality of light beams reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by the separation means is arranged such that the start side and the end side in the optical scanning direction are mutually The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus is disposed so as to be reversed. Image formation including an optical scanning device that guides a plurality of light beams to a deflecting unit, separates light beams reflected by the deflecting unit into light beams in a plurality of directions by a separating unit, and scans a plurality of scanned objects with each light beam. In the device
A plurality of bow adjustment mechanisms that adjust the curvature of the scanning light beam in the plurality of light beams that are reflected so as to be separated in substantially the same direction by the separating unit are configured such that the pressurizing directions to the optical components are different from each other. An image forming apparatus.

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