What is claimed is:

1. A free-floating apparatus for rolling buoyant flexible pool covers, said apparatus comprising:

(a) a tubular spindle-core element free-floating upon a buoyant flexible pool cover at a midpoint of said cover and within the perimeter of the pool, wherein said apparatus utilizes the buoyancy of said cover, is therein solely supported by the buoyancy of said cover, and is adapted to have said buoyant flexible pool cover wrapped therearound to roll said cover directly upon the surface water of the pool;

(b) a means for securing said tubular spindle-core to said buoyant flexible pool cover thereby enabling said cover to fold back upon itself about said spindle-core to be wrapped therearound;

(c) a means for producing rotation to said spindle-core to fold said cover back upon itself about said spindle-core to be wrapped therearound into a roll upon the surface water of the pool.

2. A pool cover rolling apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said tubular spindle-core element comprises:

(a) a first tube body (12a) spindle-core element;

(b) a means for securing said first tube body to said cover wherein a second tube body (12b) traverses said cover parallel to said first tube body, said first and second tube bodies traverse the top and under surface of said pool cover respectively at a midpoint of said cover and said tube bodies are further connected at at least opposing ends to form the spindle-core (12), whereby together said tube bodies rotate in similar direction about an imaginary third axis folding said cover back upon itself thereby enabling said cover to be wrapped therearound;

(c) means for connecting said first and second tube bodies together at least opposing ends to form said tubular spindle-core element.

3. A pool cover rolling apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said tubular spindle-core element comprises:

(a) a single tubular spindle-core (72), said spindle-core element adapted to be secured to said buoyant flexible pool cover at a midpoint of said cover thereby enabling the cover to be wrapped therearound;

(b) means for securing said single tubular spindle-core to said buoyant flexible pool cover.

4. A pool cover rolling apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said means for producing rotation to said spindle-core is removably connected to at least one end of said spindle-core thereby allowing said spindle-core to reside at water level within the perimeter of the pool when said means for producing rotation is removed.

5. A pool cover rolling apparatus as in claim 3 wherein said single tubular spindle-core is telescopic comprising multiple interlocking members (73) of similar cross-sectional shape, and said means for securing said spindle-core to said cover is a clip (88) of a similar said cross-sectional shape, whereby said shape provides an interlocking of said members, and seating for said clips.

6. A method of rolling and un-rolling a buoyant flexible pool cover directly upon the surface water of the pool, wherein said method comprises:

(a) providing a free-floating apparatus for rolling and un-rolling buoyant flexible pool covers, said apparatus adapted to fit within the perimeter of said pool at water level, said apparatus which is free-floating resides upon said cover at a midpoint of said cover and is solely supported by the buoyancy of said cover, said apparatus comprising a tubular spindle-core element upon which said cover is wrapped therearound, said apparatus further comprising a removable means for producing rotation to said spindle-core;

(b) rolling said pool cover upon the surface water of said pool and within the perimeter of said pool, the operation being assisted by the buoyancy of the cover;

(c) un-rolling said pool cover to a fully extended position.

7. A method of rolling and un-rolling a buoyant flexible pool cover as in claim 6 wherein said method overcomes the restriction of bottlenecks posed by the design of an irregular shaped pool, said method comprising:

(a) segmentation of said cover into multiple cover parts, the segmentation line to be located at the bottleneck posed by the design of the irregular shaped pool, thereby overcoming the restriction said bottleneck poses while drawing said cover upon the surface of the water during the rolling process;

(b) positioning one said spindle-core midpoint each said cover part respectively to roll said part independently upon the surface water of the pool.

8. A method of rolling and un-rolling a buoyant flexible pool cover as in claim 6, wherein said method utilizes a free-floating spindle-core element comprised of a first tube body spindle-core element, and a means for securing said first tube body to said cover wherein a second tube body spindle-core element traverses said pool cover parallel to said first tube body, said first and second tube bodies traverse the top and under surface of said pool cover respectively at a midpoint of said cover and said tube bodies are further connected at least opposing ends to form said free-floating spindle-core element, wherein the step of rolling said pool cover is accomplished by applying an evenly distributed pressure exerted by said first and second tube bodies above and below said cover in similar rotational directions about an imaginary third axis folding said cover back upon itself at a midpoint until said cover is fully rolled.

9. A method of rolling and un-rolling a buoyant flexible pool cover as in claim 6 wherein said method comprises securing a single free-floating tubular spindle-core (72) upon said cover at a midpoint of said cover employing said means for producing rotation to fold the midpoint of said cover back upon itself and upon the surface of the water until said cover is fully rolled.

10. A method of rolling and un-rolling a buoyant flexible pool cover as in claim 6 wherein said method comprises utilizing interlocking spindle-core members (73) to provide a means of adjusting the length of said spindle-core to an appropriate width of the pool within the bounds of the pool edge, wherein the cross-sectional shape of said spindle-core members provides an interlocking of said members, a seating for clips (88), and a receptacle for said means for producing rotation.

11. A combined swimming pool cover and unsupported roll-up device comprising a flexible floatable sheet material covering the water surface of a swimming pool or the like, and an elongated shaft having opposite ends extending laterally of the cover, means attaching said shaft at least at intermittent locations along its length to the sheet material cover such that the shaft and cover combination float on the water surface in a pool-covered mode and winding means removably connected into one end of the shaft suitable to transmit torque to the cover through the entire length of the shaft, the winding means including a manual crank arm and the shaft including means for receiving the crank arm in order to roll the flexible cover on the shaft and whereby the shaft and rolled-up cover can be removed from the water surface in a pool-uncovered mode.