Abstract: An apparatus for winding a thread onto a bobbin having a traversing element susceptible to tension variations and a thread guide for executing a traversing motion along the longitudinal direction of the bobbin. The thread guide is connected to the traversing element, which is operated by a plurality of guiding elements and a drive wheel arranged to function as a pre-loading element. By virtue of the drive wheel functioning as a pre-loading element, tension variations in the traversing element are absorbed when the direction of the traversing element is reversed. This allows the winding apparatus to achieve very high traversing speeds and thread guide positioning accuracies.