Traverse device and traverse method

A traverse device for winding a wire onto a reel, the reel comprising a reel body extending along in a reel axis and first and second flanges, one on either end of the reel body, the device comprising:

• a guide roller having a guide groove on an outer circumference, the wire material being fed through the guide groove from a position on a side of the guide roller opposite to the reel body to a winding position at the reel body when the device is in use, wherein the winding position is a position along the traverse direction of the reel, and when in use, the guide roller is gradually inclined during traverse in which the guide roller and the reel body are moved with respect to one another,
• a driving source configured and operably connected to move the winding position of the wire with respect to the reel in a reel axis direction by moving the guide roller and the reel body with respect to one another,
• wherein the guide roller is configured to be placed near an outer circumference of a body of the reel, and is configured to be kept at an orientation where a roller radial center line crossing a reel axis is perpendicular to the reel axis at a position where the distance between a roller end face and a reel flange exceeds a first distance in the reel axis direction, and gradually inclined, with the movement in the reel axis direction, in a direction in which a roller outer edge faces away from a reel flange ahead in a traverse direction on the side apart from the reel body relative to a rotation center forming a fulcrum about which the guide roller inclines when in use, the rotation center being located near the outer edge on the side near the outer circumference of the reel body at a position where the distance between the roller end face and the reel flange does not exceed the first distance in the reel axis direction, so that the inclined angle of the roller radial center line to a direction perpendicular to the reel axis is at a maximum at a position where the distance between the roller end face and the reel flange is a second distance that is smaller than the first distance in the reel axis direction.