Patent ID: 8540181

Claim:
An apparatus for winding a foil roll with a wound stiffener core comprising: a foil web supply for providing an elongate web of foil material to said apparatus, said foil web having a feed end; a stiffener supply for providing a sheet of stiffener material to said apparatus, said stiffener material having a leading edge and a trailing edge; a foil feed conveyor configured for transporting said foil web downstream along a foil feed path at a first speed; a sheet stiffener feed conveyor to transport said stiffener sheet along a stiffener feed path to merge with said foil feed path at an angled intersect, operation of said sheet stiffener feed conveyor being coordinated with operation of said foil feed conveyor to position said leading edge at said foil feed path intersect ahead of said feed end; and a roll winder configured for receiving from said foil feed path downstream of said intersect and spirally winding said foil web and said stiffener sheet about a central axis into a wound stiffener core, said roll winder having a plurality of movable roll starter guide fingers defining a generally cylindrical roll winding recess for directing said stiffener sheet and said foil web from said foil feed path into said roll winder and initiating core winding when in a first position, said stiffener sheet and said foil web entering said roll winder coextensively with said leading edge entering said roll winder ahead of said feed end, said foil web positioned between said central axis and said stiffener sheet, said stiffener sheet in adjacent contact with said foil web such that said stiffener sheet prevents contact of said leading portion with said roll winder, said roll winder further having at least two winding rollers having circumferential surfaces equidistantly displaced from said central axis and configured to rotate said foil roll by circumferential contact with said foil roll to spirally wind said foil web and said stiffener sheet.