For many weaving and knitting operations it is necessary to wind a warp of filaments or yarns up next to one another on a warp beam or the like. The device used for this purpose includes a so-called creel or supply having a multiplicity of supports each carrying a respective bobbin. The yarns from the bobbins pass through an appropriate guide or comb to the winder where they are wound up one next to the other on the warp beam.
A standard such device, known as a V-creel, has a pair of substantially identical sides symmetrically flanking a vertical plane extending in the longitudinal transport direction that the yarns move in toward the winder. The two sides extend at an angle of about 30.degree. to each other with the point of the V directed downstream toward the winder, that is with the apex angle of the creel open upstream away from this winder. Thus the space between the sides of the creel is empty because the yarns are drawn directly away from the outside of the creel. Each yarn or thread passes through a respective thread brake but otherwise does not engage any other structure, as the drag created by the air through which the filaments pass is substantial when the device is operating at the high speeds typically employed in a modern winding system.
The main disadvantage of such a device is that it is fairly bulky. In fact for a system about 20 m long it is standard to construct the creel about 15 m wide. Such width is essential to prevent adjacent yarns from catching on one another and becoming tangled. This size is a substantial disadvantage.