roll 1 and the backing roll 4 the regions 6 7 and 8 will hereafter be referred to simply as nips 6 7 and 8 despite their finite widths it should be noted that the extent of the deformation and the length of the nip has been exaggerated on the drawing for ease of understanding the rolls 1 to 4 are arranged to rotate in the direction shown by the arrows in fig1 more particularly the applicator roll 1 is arranged to rotate such that its surface in contact with the web 5 moves in the same direction as the web 5 as drawn the rotation of the applicator roll 1 is clockwise the backing roll 4 rotates in an opposite sense to the applicator roll i e anti clockwise such that the surfaces of the applicator roll and the backing roll move in the same direction at the nip 8 the nip 8 is therefore an ingoing nip the metering roll rotates in an opposite sense to the applicator roll i e anti clockwise so that the contacting surfaces of the applicator and metering rolls move in the same direction at the nip 6 the nip is therefore an ingoing nip the smoothing roll 3 rotates in the same sense as the applicator roll 1 so that the surfaces.