Abstract: A method of controlling a continuous skin-pass and reduction operation for a metal strip includes the steps of passing a strip through a gap between working rollers of at least two successive rolling stands, only an upstream one of the stands providing substantial thickness reduction of the strip; determining an extension rate of the strip provided by the upstream stand; determining a tension of the strip downstream of the upstream stand; adjusting the speed of the working rollers of the upstream stand compared to the speed of the working rollers of a downstream one of said stands according to the determination of the extension rate; and adjusting the squeezing force of the upstream stand according to the downstream tension determination. A response time to the step of adjustment of the squeezing force is longer than a response time to the step of adjusting the speed of the working rollers.

Abstract: The subject of the invention is a method for regulating the level of the meniscus (13) of the liquid metal in a mold (5) of a machine for the continuous casting of metals, according to which method the electrical signals supplied by at least one pair of sensors (17, 18) overhanging said meniscus are picked up, said signals being a function of the respective distances (h.sub.1, h.sub.2) between said sensors and said meniscus, these two signals are combined so as to obtain a single signal representing an imaginary level of said meniscus and said signal is sent to means (15, 24) for controlling a device (14) for regulating the flow rate of metal penetrating the mold, so that said control means actuate said device so as to bring said imaginary level of said meniscus back to a predetermined set value (h), wherein each signal coming from said sensors is conditioned, eliminating therefrom the oscillations having both a frequency greater than a threshold (F) and an amplitude less than a threshold (D).