1,137,873. Hank winding apparatus. THAYER, Inc. 1 April, 1966, No. 14672/66 Heading D1J. The invention relates to a machine that can feed ribbon to a hank winding mandrel. wind the ribbon into a hank, cut the ribbon supply, remove the wound hank and feed the remaining ribbon to the mandrel and so on. The apparatus comprises a mandrel for winding the hank, a feed mechanism for feeding ribbon to the mandrel, at least one movable member on the mandrel for automatically gripping the ribbon to initiate winding and for automatically releasing the ribbon when the hank has been wound, and a transport mechanism for extracting the hank from the mandrel. The mandrel is rotatable through a selective predetermined number of turns per hank. the angular velocity being in accordance with a predetermined programme. The apparatus also includes means for flattening the hanks, punching out notches in opposed edges of the flattened hanks, and then stapling each flattened hank onto a card. The resulting product is used in the forming of bows for decorating packages and the like. Speed Control Apparatus. In Fig. 1 a motor 38 drives a variable transmission 30 driving a clutch 16 that can be coupled to a shaft 12 extending through a gear housing 14, the shaft 12 carrying the mandrel 10. On the variable transmission 30 is a control shaft 42 that is biased by a spring 46 to a setting giving maximum output of the variable transmission. An arm 44 links the control shaft 42 to the shaft 56 of the gear housing 14, the arrangement being such that the shaft 56 is caused to rotate so as to reduce the speed of the output shaft 28. of the variable speed transmission 30 immediately prior to the time in each cycle of operation on which the mandrel 10 is stopped and its jaws are. opened to remove a hank which has been formed thereon. After a hank has been removed from the mandrel 10 a fresh ribbon end is inserted in the mandrel and the control shaft is again rotated at a gradually increasing speed up to its maximum value during the winding of the next succeeding hank. Fig. 2A (not shown) describes a hydraulic variable transmission that can replace the mechanical transmission 30. Number and rate of revolutions of Mandrel. As the shaft 12 rotates it drives a memory wheel 76, Fig. 3, carrying. a plurality of slidable pins 78, the ratio of transmission being such that one revolution of the shaft 12 causes the memory wheel 76 to rotate through one pin position. A pin pusher 80 on a shaft 68 is rotatable about the axis of the memory wheel 76 to align the pin pusher 80 with a selected pin 78. By moving the pin pusher 80 to the right, Fig. 3, the selected pin 78 is pushed to the right. The shaft 12 then rotates at maximum speed until the selected pin 78 abuts a pivoted plate 92, Fig. 6. The resulting rotation of the pivoted plate 92 rotates the shaft 56 to move the aforesaid control arm 44 in a manner reducing the output of the variable transmission 30. When the selected pin 78 and the plate 92 are in their lowermost positions, the output of the transmission 30 is reduced to a minimum and then stopped, and the shaft 12 is locked against rotation by means described below. The number of revolutions that can be performed by the mandrel 10, during each hankforming cycle, is thus determined according to which of the pins 78 has been selected. Movement of pins 78 in memory wheel 76. When the memory wheel has carried a projecting pin 78 to its lowermost setting, the resulting downward displacement of the pivoted plate 92 rocks a member 94, Fig. 6, to push the projecting pin 78 back into the memory wheel 76; and rocks a rod 70, Fig. 3, on which the pin pusher 80 is mounted, in a manner causing the next selected pin to project from the memory wheel. The pin selected depends upon the angular setting of the pin pusher 80 about the axis of the memory wheel 76. Stopping Rotation of Shaft 12. A lever 116, Fig. 5, has a foot 118 that can extend into a notch 112 in a cam 110 rigid with shaft 12. The weight of the lever is such that the foot 118 is normally out of engagement with the notch 112. When a pin 78 of the memory wheel 76 engages the pivot plate 92 and swings it downwardly, such motion is transmitted via shaft 59, 56 to cam mechanism 171, 140, 128 to move the lever 116 upwardly so that the foot 118 locks with the notch 112 to stop rotation of the shaft 12. Mandrel. The mandrel is formed by two sliding plates, namely a first sliding plate Fig. 12 having end member 220, 222, and a second sliding plate having end members 212, 214, the two sliding plates being housed between a dover (not shown) and a back plate. On moving said first and second sliding plates apart the mandrel is in its expanded condition. A spring (not shown in Fig. 12) biases the sliding plates towards each other. Passing between the sliding plates is a tapered portion 250, Fig. 14 of a shaft 232. When the shaft 232 is lowered, as viewed in Fig. 14, the tapered portion 250 causes the sliding plates to move apart and so cause the mandrel to be expanded. When the mandrel is in its collapsed condition a gap exists between member 220 on the first sliding plate and vane 206 on the back plate. The ribbon end is inserted into this gap at the beginning of the operation. When the sliding parts are moved apart said gap reduced to nothing to trap the ribbon therein, and all of the surfaces 202, 212, 214, 220, 222, &c. define a cylindrical configuration. At a predetermined time during each hankforming cycle, a control rod 270, Fig. 1, is raised to cause lever 260 to move said shaft 232 to the right in Fig. 1 to cause the mandrel to collapse. Moving the control rod 270 downwardly causes the mandrel to expand. Inserting Ribbon R End into Mandrel and Stripping Ribbon Hank from Mandrel. The ribbon passes along a feeder 272, Fig. 15, under shears 274, and up a guide arm 278 into the aforesaid gap in the mandrel 10 when the mandrel is open. The jaws of the mandrel 10 are then closed, the mandrel rotated for a predetermined number of turns, and the shears 274 operated. A transport mechanism 300 removes the wound hank of ribbon from the mandrel and transports it to a clamp that holds the ribbon during subsequent operations. The transport mechanism comprises gripper members 314, 332 that are driven towards each other by rack and pinion to engage the ribbon on the mandrel. Thereafter the grippers 314, 332 are moved, by the transport mechanism 300, running along a horizontal track 306, to strip the wound hank off the mandrel 10 and convey it to one of a plurality of clamps 362, Fig. 29, in which the hank is held whilst it is being processed further on the machine. Turrents Mechanism receiving Wound Hank. This turret comprises a ring 364, Fig. 26, on which rotates an index table 368 carrying six clamps 362. The ring 364 prevents radial outward movement of the clamps 362 except at two locations. Each clamp has upper and lower jaws that open temporarily to receive a wound hank presented thereto by the transport mechanism 300, the jaws being U-shaped so as to accept the grippers 314, 332 of the transport mechanism. When the upper and lower jaws of the clamps 362 receive a wound hank 409 they close on the hank and flatten it. A Geneva pinion moves the index table 368, Fig. 29, clockwise in a step-by-step manner. The station at which the hank 409 is received by the clamp 362 is the first step. At the second step no operation is performed on the hank. At the third step the first of the aforesaid gaps is reached and the clamps holding the hank move forwardly to permit the hank to be punched so as to form notches 414 in opposite edges. At the fourth station the hank moves forwardly to be stapled on to a card 417. No function is performed at the fifth station. At the sixth station the hank and the card are ejected from the machine. Cutting Off and Supplying Cards. The cards 417 are severed by shears 478, 480, Fig. 21 (not shown) from a supply strip 476. An oscillating arm 460 carries a suction head 462 that grips each cut-off card and conveys it to the anvil 474 of the stapling machine.