Reel
Reel turns up in 2 fields: paper optics, farming. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Reel in paper optics
Winding station at the end of the paper machine, and the full-width roll of paper wound there.
The sheet wraps onto a steel spool pressed against a driven reel drum, the arrangement usually called a Pope reel. When a roll is full, a turn-up moves the sheet onto a new empty spool without stopping the machine. The finished roll, also called a reel, is the unit the lab samples and the mill tracks for quality before it goes to the winder.
"Reel 14 is on hold for shade, the rest of the set cleared the lab."
Reel in farming
A rotating cylindrical frame on a harvester header that sweeps crops into the cutting mechanism.
A large, rotating assembly of horizontal bats or tines mounted on the front of a combine harvester or swather. As the machine moves forward, the reel gently pulls the standing crop toward the cutter bar and feeds the severed material onto the header auger or draper canvas. Its speed and height must be continuously adjusted by the operator to match ground speed and crop conditions, preventing shattering or bunching.
"Raise the reel a few inches so we don't shatter those dry soybean pods before they hit the cutter bar."