Bobbin and bobbinless transport method

A bobbin comprising:

• a centrally provided hollow guide tube;
• a pair of flanges provided on both ends of said hollow guide tube, said flanges each having a centrally provided shaft hole communicating with the hollow interior of said guide tube;
• and
• a winding drum, which is sandwiched between said pair of flanges, provided on the outer periphery of said guide tube;
• wherein one flange of said pair of flanges is removably attached to one end of said guide tube and the other flange is fixedly secured to the other end of said guide tube;
• said winding drum includes a plurality of split drum plates separated by a plurality of slits extending in a direction connecting said pair of flanges, a space being formed between an inner surface of each of the plurality of split drum plates and the outer surface of said guide tube;
• a biasing mechanism for biasing each split drum plate inwardly is provided between the inner surface of each of the plurality of split drum plates and the outer surface of said guide tube;
• and
• both ends of each of the plurality of split drum plates are supported from the inner side thereof by respective supporting projections provided on the inner surface of each of said pair of flanges.