Sleeve and reel for winding strip into coil

A sleeve for installation onto an expandable and collapsible segmented reel having a gripper bar mounted in an opening of one of the segments for securing one end of a metal strip therein, said sleeve comprising:

• a cylindrically-shaped piece of flexible elastomeric material adapted to be wrapped around the outer periphery of the reel, said cylindrically-shaped piece of flexible elastomeric material having opposed ends with edges extending longitudinally to form an axial opening in the sleeve, said ends being adapted to fit mateably with opposed edges of the opening between the gripper bar and the segment in which the gripper bar is mounted, said opposed ends of the cylindrically-shaped piece of flexible elastomeric material having means for providing sufficient stiffness in the sleeve adjacent the opening between the gripper bar and the segment to minimize a flat spot in a coil strip wound on to the reel, said cylindrically-shaped piece of flexible elastomeric material having means on an inner surface adapted to abut the outer periphery of the reel for permitting sufficient expansion of the flexible elastomeric material when the segmented reel is moved from the collapsed to the expanded position that the segment housing the gripper bar is not pulled apart and a widened gap is not formed between the gripper bar and said segment.