PURPOSE: To prevent that the ending part is caught to an ending device and the ending part is made impossible to examine when a package is inversed.

CONSTITUTION: In an automatic winder which has a thread ending device 8 to combine the upper thread Y1 and the lower thread Y2 in an ending work is provided at the downstream side of a clearer 7, and discriminates the condition of the ending work by running the thread Y in the reverse direction to the winding direction once, so as to pass the ending part 14 of the thread Y through the clearer 7; the thread Y is cut off and then the ending work is restarted, when the thread running signal is not generated when the thread Y is run in the reverse direction. That is a specific feature of this examination method.