A surface winder for winding a web material around a core to obtain a log is disclosed. The surface winder provides a core inserter for inserting a core into an introductory portion of a winding cradle defined by an upper winding roller, a concave cradle, a lower winding roller, and a third oscillating roller. The concave cradle has a leading edge device having a surface with at least one channel disposed therein. The at least one channel has a single entry point and a single exit point and extending from a position external to the leading edge device and a first location disposed upon the surface capable of receiving a fluid from the at least one channel. The fluid is fluidically displaced onto the core from the at least one channel when the core is in contacting engagement with the first location disposed upon the surface.

Method for rolling up definite lengths of a mats in a unidirectional rolled roll, where mats are advanced one after another into a rolling mechanism in flattened out condition and released from the mechanism in rolled up condition. A rolled up mat is ejected from the rolling mechanism and caused to roll out therefrom on top of a succeeding flattened out mat which advances towards the rolling mechanism. A mat rolling station for performing the method is provided, where a ramp conveyer is provided which advances a flattened mat towards the rolling mechanism. At the rolling mechanism, bending conveyers are provided for advancing the forwardly moving mat sections into a circular bend on the ramp conveyer. A difference of surface speeds of the bending conveyers and the ramp conveyer is controllable by a signal provoked by the advance of a succeeding mat on the ramp conveyer before the rolling mechanism.

A leading edge device for incorporation into an introductory portion a concave cradle is disclosed d. The concave cradle is associated with an upper winding roller of a surface winder to form a winding cradle for winding a web material having a velocity, v, around a core having a radius, R, inserted therein to obtain a log. The leading edge device has a surface having a texture provided thereto for contacting the core.

An introductory portion for a surface winder is disclosed. The introductory portion comprises a surface. The surface has at least one channel disposed therein. The at least one channel has a single entry point and a single exit point and extends from a position external to the introductory portion and a first location disposed upon the surface. The first location is disposed upon the surface and is capable of receiving a fluid from the at least one channel. The fluid is fluidically displaced onto the core from the at least one channel when the core is in contacting engagement with the first location disposed upon the surface.

To provide (i) a method for producing an assembly capable of protecting a film from external force during, for example, transport and (ii) such an assembly, a method for producing an assembly includes a step of inserting a pillar-shaped core member through a plurality of separator rolls and a buffer member(s) made of a flexibility material and provided between separator rolls such that the separator rolls and the buffer member(s) are arranged alternately.

A method is provided for removing mandrels from successive rolls of convolutely wound web material. In one aspect, a roll of web convolutely wound around a mandrel is moved to a position in which the mandrel is aligned with a clasp with the clasp spaced apart from the mandrel. The clasp is then moved along a path toward the roll. Movement of the clasp toward the roll is stopped only when the clasp is in a position to engage the mandrel. The mandrel is engaged with the clasp. The clasp and the mandrel are moved away from the roll to withdraw the mandrel from the roll. The mandrel is released from the clasp when the mandrel is removed from the roll. The mandrel is removed from the path of the clasp. The steps are repeated for a subsequent roll.

An apparatus is disclosed for applying tags with attached elastic anchor bands onto the tops of objects such as bottles in a high speed packaging application. The apparatus includes an infeed assembly for feeding a web, a conveyor assembly that receives a web and conveys it along a path in an upstream direction, a rotating selector wheel, a placement assembly, a pair of rotating jaw assembles, a vacuum cup of the selector wheel, and stretched elastic bands over the tops of respective bottles being conveyed along a path below the placing assembly. The elastic bands then snap onto the tops of their respective bottles to secure the tags to the bottles.

An apparatus is disclosed for applying tags with attached elastic anchor bands onto the tops of objects such as bottles in a high speed packaging application. The apparatus includes an infeed assembly for feeding a web, a conveyor assembly that receives a web and conveys it along a path in an upstream direction, a rotating selector wheel, a placement assembly, a pair of rotating jaw assembles, a vacuum cup of the selector wheel, and stretched elastic bands over the tops of respective bottles being conveyed along a path below the placing assembly. The elastic bands then snap onto the tops of their respective bottles to secure the tags to the bottles.

Apparatus and methods are provided to minimize waste and improve quality and production in web processing operations. The apparatus and methods provide defect detection in deposition of acquisition material, which on current machines frequently flips and is difficult to detect when it has flipped causing manufacturers to scrap thousands of products. Using the present invention, defects are able to be detected by discerning a difference in the appearance from side to side with a vision camera, and an acquisition inverter can flip the material to a correct orientation.

A skid assembly including a skid having a stacking surface and four gum rolls is provided. The gum rolls include a first gum roll positioned on the stacking surface and a second gum roll positioned on the stacking surface and abutting the first gum roll. The first and second gum rolls cooperate to define a first skid layer. The gum rolls further include third and fourth gum rolls each positioned on one of the first or second gum rolls. The fourth gum roll abuts the third gum roll, and the third and fourth gum rolls both cooperate to form a second skid layer. The gum rolls are formed of a strip stock wound onto a core fixture. The strip stock is coated to prevent the strip stock from adhering to itself while being wound into the gum roll.