Original circulating and conveying device for copying machine

Claim 1

A recirculating document handling apparatus for a copying machine of the type wherein a plurality of copies of a document are obtained by repeatedly transporting said document past an exposure station until a desired number of exposures of said document have been made, said handling apparatus comprising: conveying means for conveying a document from a document insertion position to a document discharge position along a conveying path past said exposure position; detection means for detecting the size of said document; and recirculating means for selectively recirculating said document back to said exposure station through a recirculation path before it reaches said discharge position until said desired number of copies have been made, said recirculating means being responsive to said measured document size to vary the length of said recirculation path, said recirculating means being disabled to thereby permit said document to be forwarded to said discharge position without recirculation after only one exposure has been made regardless of the number of exposures desired when said detection means detects that said document exceeds a predetermined size.