PURPOSE: To prevent double feeding surely regardless of toughness of paper by such a construction that two belts with different tensile setting are in contact with a friction roller, where inclination of the belts with respect to the roller shall differ from each other.

CONSTITUTION: When a friction roller 2 is rotated in the direction shown by the arrow, the sheet P lying at the top of the pile on a holder plate 4 is sent to separating belts 5, 6 by a feeding roller 1 and a pressing roller 14 resting on the pile by its own weight. The separating belts 5 and 6 are stretched over shafts 7, 7 and 8, 8, respectively, where the belt 5 shall be set slack so as to be in surface contact with the circumferential surface of the friction roller 2 and, on the other hand, the belt 6 shall be set tense so as to be in line contact with the same. The inclination of belt 5 with respect to horizontal plane shall be set smaller than that of belt 6. Thereby, for sheets of paper with toughness, the belt 5 makes rough separation and, then, the belt 6 makes sure separation one sheet after another.