Optical scanning apparatus

A compact optical scanning apparatus includes a motor driven hollow drive shaft (40) through which scanning light beams are projected. A mirror (66) mounted on one end of the drive shaft (40) deflects the light beams to the side of the drive shaft (40), said light beams impinge on the interior surfaces of a conically shaped ring of mirrors (62) which in turn deflect the light beams downwardly towards a circular mirror (32) mounted horizontally and which reflects the light beams towards a ring of pattern forming mirrors (82) mounted perpendicular to the circular mirror (32). The pattern forming mirrors (82) reflect the light beams through an aperture (22) in the scanning apparatus in the form of a scanning pattern. A gear mechanism (54,56,58) mounted between the ring of mirrors (62) and the drive shaft rotates the ring of mirrors (62) in a direction opposite to that of the drive shaft (40) and an advantageously dense pattern of scan lines is obtained.