Systems and methods for aligning preprinted images on a roll of substrate to the moving components of a web press are disclosed. A method in accordance with one embodiment includes determining the speed of the moving components of the press, determining the speed of the web of preprinted images and adjusting the speed of the web of preprinted image to match the speed of the web. In particular embodiments, a press which produces rolls of preprinted material can be modified to change the equivalent cutoff length of the press. In further embodiments, a method of pasting new rolls of material to expiring rolls of material is accomplished by modulating the drive speed of the new roll of material to match the expiring roll of material while at the same time aligning the images on the new roll with the expiring roll.

The apparatus for combining tobacco sheets comprises a first shaft for carrying a first bobbin of tobacco sheet and a second shaft for carrying a second bobbin of tobacco sheet. The apparatus also comprises a splicing unit for combining an end portion of tobacco sheet from the first bobbin to a head portion of tobacco sheet from the second bobbin. The splicing unit comprises a cutting device for cutting the tobacco sheets such as to provide complementary cuts to the tobacco sheets from the first bobbin and from the second bobbin, a dispensing device for dispensing water to at least one of the tobacco sheets, and a combining device for applying force onto the tobacco sheets thereby producing a spliced tobacco sheet.

Apparatus suitable for guaranteeing a quick and automatic change of materials wound on reels, said apparatus consisting mainly of a reel-alternating mechanism combined with a mechanism for cutting and reconnecting the reeled material.

A system and method for the splicing transversely wound webs is provided. A web diverter unit includes a web retaining assembly movable between a first position where the web retaining assembly is not in contact with the running web and a second position where the web retaining assembly is in contact with the running web. With the web retaining assembly in the second position, the web retaining assembly temporarily holds the running web being unwound off of the running web material roll at a constant transverse position to enable precise alignment of the running web with the waiting web for splicing therebetween.

A winder applied can include a turret part configured to hold a running film roll and a standby film roll, and a leading part including a head part configured to sense a finishing tape attached to an end side of a thin film wound on the standby film roll, grip the finishing tape, and remove the finishing tape from the standby film roll. The head part can include a head body part, a sensing unit disposed on the head body part, and a tape adsorption part disposed on the head body part. The tape adsorption part may be configured to move to a position of the finishing tape sensed by the sensing unit, temporarily couple to the finishing tape, and remove the finishing tape from the end side of the thin film wound on the standby film roll. The sensing unit may be configured to sense the finishing tape.

A method for splicing two sheets of material is provided, including: providing a processing line including a splicing head and a quality sensor located between upstream and downstream ends of the processing line; providing first and second sheets of material; processing the first sheet on the processing line along a processing direction from the upstream end towards the downstream end; detecting, by the quality sensor, a value of a quality parameter at a detected portion of the first sheet; and, when the value falls within a predetermined threshold, transporting the first sheet along the processing line such that the detected portion is located prior to getting into the splicing head from the upstream end, and splicing the first and the second sheets at the splicing head when the detected portion is located prior to getting into the splicing head from the upstream end.

Described herein is a sheet supply apparatus for continuously supplying sheets while splicing the leading edge of the sheet of a standby roll to the trailing end of a sheet being unwound from a working roll by using an auto splicer, the sheet supply apparatus including: a turret unwinder provided with fixation chucks that each fix both ends of a paper tube, and configured to switch the positions of the standby and working rolls; a detector configured to detect the position of one of both axial ends of the standby roll; a corrector configured to be connected to each of the fixation chucks and to correct the position of the standby roll; and a controller configured to align an end of the standby roll so that the end of the standby roll is aligned with the end of the working roll while correcting the position of the standby roll.