Patent ID: 7506834

Claim:
An apparatus for winding or unwinding a windable material, comprising: a rotatable, axially extending shaft, a sleeve that receives the shaft and is rotatable as a unit with the shaft, a pair of axially spaced cams fixedly secured to the sleeve, a plurality of peripherally spaced elongate clamping elements about which the winding material can be wound, the clamping elements having opposite end portions, a carrier element on each end portion of each clamping element, the carrier elements at the one end portions of the clamping elements being non-rotatably coupled to and slidable on one of the cams, the carrier elements at the other end portions of the clamping elements being non-rotatably coupled to and slidable on the other one of the cams, the sleeve and the cams being shiftable relative to the shaft in one direction to cam the clamping elements outwardly to a clamping position, and the sleeve and the cams being shiftable relative to the shaft in the opposite direction to enable movement of the clamping elements inwardly to a release position.