Abstract: A copying machine wherein an orginal is exposed to light by the movement of a document table or an optical system to form an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductive drum at an image forming station, and the latent image is developed and then transferred from the drum to copy paper at a transfer station. The machine has a detector for producing an output upon detecting that the optical system has reached a predetermined position subsequent to the starting end of the original during the exposure, a timer for measuring a specified period of time from the time the detector produces the output, and a drive device for initiating a paper transporting device into operation in response to an input from the timer, the distance of transport of the paper from the transporting device to the transfer station being smaller than the distance from the image forming station to the transfer station along the periphery of the drum.