PURPOSE: To prevent the deformation of a roller by keeping a bottom plate at an automatic paper feeding position up to a paper feed enabled timing in printing operation and lowering the bottom plate when a paper feed start signal is not supplied and releasing the press contact with a pick-up roller in waiting, keeping the speed at the maximum value.

CONSTITUTION: When a paper feed start signal is inputted, a bottom plate 6 is raised, and if the paper sheet reaches an automatic paper feeding position, the paper sheet 5 is supplied by a pick-up roller 1 and a feed roller 2, and after a certain time, the bottom plate lowers and reaches an intermediate position, and the double feed with the next paper sheet is prevented. The bottom plate is raised again in the timing in which the paper sheet 5 separates from the feed roller 2, and the existence of the paper sheet is judged by a paper end sensor 8. Then, the bottom plate 6 is kept at an automatic paper feeding position up to the paper feed enabled timing. The next paper feed start signal is checked, and if the existence is confirmed, the next paper feed operation is carried out, while if the signal is not confimrmd, the bottom plate 6 is lowered. Accordingly, the printing speed is kept at the max., and when no paper sheet is supplied, contact with the roller 1 is prevented.