A machine for feeding sheets of paper or the like one after another, wherein until a sheet is nipped between a front feed roller and a friction plate, a sufficiently great pressure is maintained between the roller and the plate so as to prevent simultaneous nipping of two or more piled sheets, and once the sheet is nipped between the roller and the friction plate, the pressure therebetween is reduced so as to prevent the sheet from being wrinkled, ruptured or otherwise damaged while effecting smooth feeding of the sheet.