Spirals for traversing a strand during winding and winding apparatus including the same

摘要

A spiral for traversing a strand during winding includes: (a) a shaft having a first portion, a second portion and a length therebetween having a midpoint; and (b) a first wing and a second wing. Each wing has a first end, a second end and a curved portion therebetween. The first end of each wing is adjacent to the second end of the other wing and displaces the strand from contact with the second end of the other wing during winding. The first end of each wing can be positioned on the shaft at a distance from the midpoint which is less than a distance from the midpoint at which the second end of each wing is positioned on the shaft; the second end of each wing can be positioned at an angle ranging from about 30 degrees to about 150 degrees overlapping a position of the first end of the other wing and/or the curved portion can have a decreasing radius of curvature from the first end of each wing to the second end of each wing; and/or the curved portion of each wing has a generally uniformly decreasing radius of curvature along the curved portion from the first end of each wing to the second end of each wing and only three of any four points of a locus of points along the curved portion of each wing are coplanar.