Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Shinobu Fukoka

Takeshi Kamada

An optical reader includes a transport mechanism for transporting a document in a document transport direction. The transport mechanism includes a lower guide plate and an upper guide plate opposite to the lower guide plate so as to form a gap through which the document is transported. The lower guide plate has an opening window. A light source obliquely projects light along a projection optical axis onto the document through the opening window. A read element receives light reflected by the document and outputting an electrical signal corresponding to the received light. The read element has a read optical axis along which the light reflected by the document comes. The read optical axis and the projection optical axis intersect on the side of the upper guide plate outside of the gap.

Growing community of inventors

Atsugi, Japan

Shinobu Fukoka