Abstract: The average winding diameter of a finite roller band length wound on a supply coil is increased by having the roller band rewound from the supply coil to a storage coil of a larger than the winding diameter, which encloses the supply coil concentrically. During the uncoiling of the band stored on the storage coil for purposes of a continuous manufacturing operation, a welding device is arranged in the annular area between the external diameter of the supply coil and the internal diameter of the storage coil and welds the band trailing end of the storage coil together with the band and leading end of the supply coil. The contents of the supply coil are then taken over by the storage coil, and while this material is uncoiled, a further supply coil is inserted and its leading edge welded to the end of the storage coil.

Abstract: Metal strips of indefinite length are made from a plurality of limited-length rolled-strip sections by temporarily clamping adjoining ends of a pair of such strip sections between semi-cylindrical halves of a reel and welding them together while the reel is rotated to wind the two strip sections into a double-layer coil thereon. A trailing end of the second strip section of this pair is then similarly joined to a leading end of a third strip section in another such reel, upstream of the former; as the two reels are rotated in opposite directions, the first strip section is fed forward from the unwinding double-layer coil of the downstream reel while the second strip section is fed back to be wound jointly with the third strip section into another double-layer coil on the upstream reel. In an analogous manner, further strip sections can be joined to the preceding ones with the aid of one additional reel whereupon the first reel becomes available for positioning upstream of the last one to continue the process.