Method and apparatus for feeding and splicing sheet of material wound in a bobbin

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for feeding and splicing sheets of material wound in bobbins (), the method including: providing a rotating wheel () having at least a first, a second, a third and a fourth bobbin holder () defining a first, a second, a third and a fourth station; unwinding a first sheet of material () wound in a first bobbin () provided in the first station; detecting the amount of first sheet of material remaining in the first bobbin () in the first station; depending on the amount of first sheet of material (), splicing the first sheet of material () unwound from the first bobbin with a second sheet of material () unwound from a second bobbin () present in the second station; preparing for splicing a third sheet of material in a third bobbin () present in the third station including: reading information about the third bobbin () contained in a sticker, label or tag; removing the sticker, label or tag from the third bobbin (); and rotating the wheel () so that the substantially empty first bobbin () is moved to the fourth station and the third bobbin is moved to the second station. Further, the invention relates to an apparatus for feeding and splicing materials wound in bobbins () for conducting the above method.