Abstract: In a printer having a sheet feeder associated therewith, means are provided for feeding only the top sheet in a stack of sheets to the printer platen. A feed roller is positioned in contact with the top sheet and is energized a plurality of times prior to the paper clearing two corner separators associated with the sheet feeder, the acceleration and stopping of the feed roller having a tendency to jerk the first sheet of paper out of the stack while leaving the subsequent sheets in the stack. Although several methods can be utilized to energize the feed roller, control signals for energizing the feed roller are preferably generated by the printer microprocessor.