Image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an apparatus body;
• a plurality of optical writing means stacked one above the other and each being mounted on a respective base member supported by said apparatus body;
• adjusting means included in at least one of said plurality of optical writing means for correcting a shift of a scanning line relative to scanning lines of the other optical writing means;
• and
• a structural member partitioning off a space between the optical writing means including said adjusting means and the optical writing means adjoining said optical writing means, said structural member being affixed to said apparatus body at a part thereof.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an apparatus body;
• a plurality of photoconductive elements mounted on said apparatus body one above the other;
• and
• a plurality of optical writing means each for forming a latent image on a respective one of said plurality of photoconductive elements;
• wherein said plurality of optical writing means are constructed into a single box-like writing unit for emitting a plurality of light beams toward said plurality of photoconductive elements, said writing unit being spaced from said plurality of photoconductive elements by a preselected distance.

An image forming apparatus for forming an image on a photoconductive element with image forming means, comprising:

• an apparatus body;
• a plurality of image forming cartridges removably mounted to said apparatus body in a form of a stack;
• and
• a plurality of optical writing means each for forming a latent image on a photoconductive element associated therewith;
• wherein a plurality of photoconductive elements each are supported by a respective one of said plurality of image forming cartridges beforehand, or said plurality of photoconductive elements are supported by said apparatus body beforehand such that when said plurality of image forming cartridges are mounted to said apparatus body, said image forming means supported by said image forming cartridges beforehand each partly contact an associated one of said plurality of photoconductive elements;
• and
• wherein said plurality of optical writing means are constructed into a single box-like writing unit for emitting a plurality of light beams toward said plurality of photoconductive elements in a stacking direction of said plurality of image forming cartridges, said writing unit being spaced from said plurality of photoconductive elements by a preselected distance.