Abstract: A spindle is driven in continuous manner to wind a ribbon of material upon a core. A traversing guide, moved in a side to side reciprocatory manner by a traversing carriage, guides the ribbon of material so that it is wound in spiral fashion upon the core to form a layer first in one direction and then in the opposite direction one upon the other until a package is formed.A sensor wheel, attached to the spindle drive shaft for rotation therewith, is provided with a number of fingers the movement of which is sensed by a sensor head to provide digital pulses to a two stage counter. The two stage counter, in turn, controls activation and deactivation of solenoid valves to clutch and de-clutch the traversing carriage to a drive belt and provide the reciprocatory movement for the carriage and ribbon.