To lengthen the mechanical service life, by avoiding damage caused by frictional contact of a roller set and a separation pad, in a paper separating mechanism used for business equipment such as a copier, a fax machine, a printer and a scanner.

This paper separating mechanism has a roller set driven by a driving motor, a gear set arranged on a side part of the roller set, and an adjusting device arranged on a side part of the gear set and applying resistance torque. The roller set starts to provide paper when the roller set is driven by the driving motor and thrust applied by the driving motor overwhelms the resistance torque.