The disclosed supply roll (5) comprises a roll core (6); flat material and/or strip material (8) being carried on the roll core (6) in a multitude of windings; and at least one functional marker (2). The at least one functional marker (2) is placed in a specified relative position at an externally arranged free end section (7) of the flat material and/or strip material (8) such that information about the relative position of the free end section (7) is optically identifiable by way of the at least one functional marker (2).

A tape holder allows a person to hold and dispense masking tape easily when preparing for painting or performing other tape related activities. The tape holder may include a first portion that is capable of sliding into or out of a person's pants pocket while a second portion extends out of the pocket and holds one or more rolls of tape. Embodiments of the tape holder are economically made from a single length of bent rod. The tape holder allows the user to easily and quickly remove and replace a roll of masking tape.

A method for winding a foil onto a winding core in order to form a coil and for unwinding the foil from the winding core. The foil comprises a support material of an electrode foil and an electrode foil, which has at least one active material, or a separator foil which are used as components of a battery cell. The winding core has a perforated circumferential surface with at least one opening. A coil is also provided that has at least a winding core and a foil which is wound on the winding core.

An image forming system includes: a sheet conveying section configured to convey a long sheet; an image forming/fixing section configured to execute an image forming/fixing operation to form and fix a toner image on the long sheet to be conveyed by the sheet conveying section; a skew detection section configured to detect a skew of the long sheet to be conveyed by the sheet conveying section; a skew correction section configured to execute a skew correction operation to correct the skew of the long sheet; and a control section configured to perform control to execute the skew correction operation when the skew has been detected in a first area where the skew correction operation does not affect the image forming/fixing operation, and perform control to execute the skew correction operation when the skew has been detected in a second area where the skew correction operation affects the image forming/fixing operation.

A medium winder, includes: a winding roller that winds a medium discharged from an image formation apparatus into a roll shape; first and second rollers that guide the medium to the winding roller; a dancer roller provided between the first and second rollers in the medium conveyance direction and movable upwardly and downwardly while contacting from above the medium between the first and second rollers; a winding driver that rotates the winding roller; a detector that detects the dancer roller; a dancer roller position recognition portion that recognizes the position of the dancer roller based on a detection result by the detector; and a winding drive controller that controls the winding driver. In an operation of unwinding the medium, the winding drive controller moves the dancer roller up and down by reducing or increasing the unwinding velocity of the medium based on a position of the dancer roller.

A winding station and a method for winding material webs, in particular foils or films, wherein during a continuous movement of the material web, a removal fork pivots the nearly full winding sleeve from a front position to a rear removal position while a new winding sleeve is moved to the winding position. The winding station is provided with a device to wind the material web automatically onto a new winding sleeve following the separation of the completed winding.

A system including a spool mechanism having a set of a plurality of circumferentially-spaced springs and a plurality of circumferentially-spaced planetary gears, wherein each planetary gear is rotationally coupled to an associated spring. The system further includes a sun gear positioned inside of and gearingly coupled the plurality of the planetary gears, and a ring gear positioned outside of and gearingly coupled the plurality of the planetary gears.

An image forming apparatus includes the following. A conveying unit conveys a continuous sheet at least longer than a length of the apparatus itself. A first rotating member can be pressed to and separated from a second rotating member. The first rotating member can be rotated separated from the second rotating member. The continuous sheet can be stopped and held when the first rotating member is separated from the second rotating member. The image forming apparatus further includes a control unit. When the continuous sheet is stopped and held and the rotation of the first rotating member is started separated from the second rotating member, the control unit moves at least one of the first rotating member and the continuous sheet so that the continuous sheet is not in contact with the first rotating member, and then the control unit starts rotation of the first rotating member.

A film dispenser for dispensing stretch wrap or other flexible materials. The film dispenser is comprised of paper or cardboard. The film dispenser being inserted into an extended core or having the extended core inserted into the film dispenser.

A long-term bendable glass material includes a glass material having a bending radius in a range of 1 mm to 10.sup.7 mm. The glass material is structured such that a number of breaks developing over a course of time after a storage period of at least one day displays a remaining probability of breaking of less than 0.1 for a storage time period of a maximum of half a year.