Abstract: A roll for use in calenders or like machines has a hollow cylindrical shell which spacedly surrounds a carrier and whose internal surface engages the external surfaces of several bearing elements each of which is biased against the shell by at least one hydraulic pressure generating device having a cylinder on the carrier or on the bearing element, a piston on the bearing element or on the carrier, and an annular seal recessed into the cylinder and engaging the periphery of the piston. The bearing elements can reciprocate in the radial direction of the shell as well as pivot about axes which are parallel with or normal to the axis of the shell due to the provision of swivelling joints having sockets machined into the bottom faces of cylinders in the respective cylinder chambers and spherical heads extending into the associated sockets and having shanks secured to the end faces of the respective pistons, or vice versa.