Abstract: In a continuous annealing operation of a cold rolled steel strip involving water quenching and over-aging treatments, a method employing a cooling system comprising a pair of rolls arranged to contact the surfaces of a steel strip, a pair of cooling water spray units arranged in symmetrical positions on both sides of the steel strip and a storage tank connected to the spray units. When the steel strip, heated to a temperature between 500.degree. to 800.degree. C is water quenched, the distortion of the strip during the water quenching is inhibited and the surface oxidation is reduced to such an extent that no supplementary pickling is required.

Abstract: In a process of making a cold-reduced steel strip for press-forming by a continuous annealing process comprising a rapid cooling step after recrystallization heating and an over-aging treatment step, when no spray of cooling water at the runout table before coiling in the hot-rolling stage is carried out on the top side and the bottom side of a travelling hot-rolled steel strip by about 20 to 200m respectively, a cold reduced soft steel sheet for press-forming is easily obtained by the above continuous annealing process.