Abstract: A conveyor delivers a series of cylindrical wrapped fibrous modules to a station where the module is lifted off the conveyor and an operation conducted on the module. One operation is to find a tail, or unattached segment, of the cover. Another operation is to remove the cover, by slitting and then unwinding it. The cover is delivered to a storage area and the contents of the module are delivered into a hopper, or in some embodiments, into a disperser. In some embodiments, a grabber moves the slit cover from adjacent a slitting position to a storage area and includes a guide wheel for moving a conveyor up and down in response to the configuration of the round module. In one embodiments, the plastic cover is removed manually by workers guiding the plastic wrap as it is unrolled by the unrolling device.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a system for removing a plastic wrap from a cylindrical module includes a conveyor transporting the cylindrical module toward a disperser with the cylindrical axis of the module parallel to the direction of conveyor movement. In another embodiment, the disperser is a travelling head disperser thereby providing relative movement between the modules and the disperser. The direction of the wrap around the module is determined and the cover is removed during rotation of the module, either by unwrapping the plastic or by slitting the plastic and then rotating the module. The equipment used to handle a cylindrical module is moved out of the path of movement of a conventional rectangular module so an installation can handle both rectangular and wrapped cylindrical modules.