Method and apparatus for winding substrates that are capable of being wound

An apparatus for winding substrates that are capable of being wound, especially textiles, onto a substrate carrier, for example a sample-dyeing sleeve, the winding apparatus comprising a substrate store for making ready the substrate and means for winding the readied substrate onto the substrate carrier, and having means for cutting and fixing to the winding the end of the substrate belonging to the winding, wherein there are provided retaining means for holding the substrate in a defined storage position and means for moving the substrate carrier into a threading position in which the substrate carrier engages the substrate to be threaded that is held in the defined storage position and threads it around the substrate carrier, wherein the means for moving the substrate carrier then move the latter, after the substrate has been threaded, into a winding position in which the winding means wind the threaded substrate onto the substrate carrier, the winding means comprising a motor-driven transport drive provided with means for regulating the feed rate at which the transport drive transports the substrate guided between a pair of draw rollers to the substrate carrier, wherein the means for winding the substrate also include a motor-driven drive for the substrate carrier and that drive the substrate carrier at a uniform torque, and wherein the retaining means holds the other end of the substrate in the defined storage position again, said retaining means including a retaining rail having a retaining surface, facing the substrate carrier when the substrate carrier has been moved into the threading position, that has suction openings and a reduced pressure connection that is connected via a valve to a source of reduced pressure that, as the substrate is threaded on, is connected in pressure to the retaining element, with the result that reduced pressure is generated through the suction openings in the retaining surface and the substrate is drawn against the retaining surface by means of suction;

• the outer wall of the substrate carrier has several regions about the substrate carrier longitudinal axis in which needles project substantially radially outwards from the outer wall which engage the substrate held in the storage position and for which corresponding grooves have been made in the retaining surface of the retaining element;
• and, when the threading operation is complete, the valve cuts off the reduced pressure source from the retaining element in pressure, thus releasing the substrate from the retaining surface and allowing the substrate to be wound on the substrate carrier.