A flexible web from a stenter is passed from a lower take-off roller onto the surface of a rotating batcher roller. A pair of spaced turrets at opposite ends of the batcher roller have a plurality of radial slots which support successive spears or cores in a parallel relationship and contiguous with the surface of the batcher roller. Batching is accomplished by passing the web through the nip between the batching roller and a spear or core, rotation of the batching roller being the driving means for winding the web on the spear or core. Transfer of the web from a completed batch to a new spear or core is accomplished by intermittently orbiting a carrier cutter around the batcher roller from a first position where it engages the moving web to a second position where it releases the web, the batcher cutter having an electrical element which cuts the web across the width thereof during travel between said positions. A feeding means adjacent the second position introduces a new spear into a turret slot whereby an introduced spear engages the now cut advancing web end.