Method for axial feeding of ribbon material and a stock of ribbon material coils for axial feeding

A method of preparing coils of wound ribbon to reduce twisting thereof during continuous axial ribbon feed to a processing machine, each coil having a sequence of turns wound about a central axis and including a central end at an inner-most turn of said sequence of turns and an outer end at an outer-most turn of said sequence of turns, the method comprising:

• a) orienting a first coil and a second coil so that said first and second coils are wound in identical directions, and
• b) splicing the outer end of the first coil to the outer end of the second coil such that at least some twists developed during axial ribbon feed of the first coil are removed during axial ribbon feed of the second coil.

A stock of flexible ribbon material adapted for continuous axial feed to a processing machine, the stock comprising:

• a plurality of coils of said ribbon material,
• each coil having a sequence of turns wound about a central axis of the coil and including a central end at an inner-most turn of said sequence of turns and an outer end at an outer-most turn of said sequence of turns,
• the outer end of a first coil of said plurality of coils being connected to the outer end of a second coil of said plurality of coils such that at least some twists developed during axial feeding of the first coil are removed during axial feeding of the second coil.