R.j. Reynolds Tobacco Company

Gary Micheal Jackson

Carl Carlton Greene, Jr

Wallace R Lassiter

Jeffery Kane Rogers

An apparatus and method for the tensionless unwinding of a gossamer web of material from a bobbin uses a servo control system connected between the servomotors of a web handling apparatus and a bobbin unwinder for controlling the unwinding speed of the bobbin unwinder in relation to the take-up speed of the web handling apparatus. A pulsed infrared sensor is used to sense the web position in a loop between the unwinder and the web handling apparatus and supply a feedback signal to the servo control system for maintaining the web in a substantially untensioned state. A flow of air is impinged upon the web adjacent the sensor to prevent unwanted web movement due to ambient air currents and other transitory forces on the web.

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Winston-Salem, NC, United States of America

Gary Micheal Jackson