Abstract: A mechanism for feeding strip material into the nip between a pair of strip mill rollers includes opposed guides for engaging and capturing the edges of the material being fed into the nip. Each guide has a side wall, a top plate and a bottom plate that together define a tapered channel. The wide end or throat of the channel initially receives the material, while the small end of the channel guides the material into the adjacent nip. The guides are movable toward and away from each other to accommodate strip materials of different widths. Each guide journals a series of vertically extending rollers of decreasing lengths upon which the associated side edge of the strip material sequentially rides as it moves toward the nip. The lengths of the rollers substantially exceed the expected thicknesses of the strip material so that the lower ends of the rollers wear at a faster rate then their upper ends.

Abstract: The disclosure is directed to a new scrap kick-out conveyor for a continuous buttweld pipe mill installation. The pipe mill includes a scrap cut-off saw, located between the welding mill and the subsequent processing mills, and the kick-out conveyor is located downstream of the scrap saw. The conveyor includes stock advancing rolls, for supporting and advancing the pipe stock, and inboard and outboard guide rails for laterally confining the pipe. Means are provided for retracting selected portions of the outboard guide rail and for diverting selected portions of the inboard rail to lie across the pass line, such that the oncoming scrap section is diverted off of the conveyor. An inclined discharge apron is provided adjacent the outboard guide rail, leading to a scrap bin. The retractable portion of the outboard guide rail is arranged to retract downwardly, and is provided with an inclined upper surface to facilitate gravity discharge of the scrap sections.

Abstract: The disclosure is directed to improvement in stretch reducing mills utilized in the manufacture of seamless and welded tubing. The stretch reducing mill is well known in its generalities, and the disclosure is directed to improvements in the construction of such mills in the interest of increasing the efficiency of operation and performance of the mill. The disclosure is directed in part to the construction of a multi-stand stretch reducing mill with improved arrangements for removably securing the individual mill stands in position. This includes a heavy, massive structural beam from which all of the individual mill stands are suspended and which additionally serves, when the mill is ready for operation, as a means for holding the mill stands in position. In the latter capacity, the beam contributes both in terms of its great weight and in terms of distributing clamping forces to the individual mill stands from a limited number of clamps.

Abstract: The disclosure is directed to improvement in piercing and reeling mills, to facilitate the changing of mandrel plugs and mill shoes. In piercing and reeling operations, mandrel plugs are supported at the ends of elongated mandrel bars, and workpieces are driven over the mandrel plugs while being rotated, to effect piercing and enlarging, in the case of piercing mills, and to achieve roundness, in the case of reeling mills. In each case, after processing a finite length of tubing, and while the workpiece remains on the mandrel, the mandrel is retracted, first stripping off the just-used mandrel plug, and then withdrawing the mandrel from the processed workpiece. A multi-position magazine is provided for retaining a circulating supply of mandrel plugs such that, after each operation, the used mandrel plug may be returned to the magazine for cooling, and a new plug may be brought quickly into working position ready for the next operation.

Abstract: The disclosure is directed to a rotary saw for cutting sections of scrap pipe in a pipe forming mill. The saw includes a frame, mounted for rotation above the pass line and carrying cutting saws at each of two ends, enabling two cuts to be made for each revolution of the rotary frame. The individual saw mechanisms are mounted for rotation in the frame and are tied to the stationary frame of the apparatus in a manner to maintain the saw blades at all times in a vertical plane for cutting a horizontally moving pipe. Both of the saws are driven by a common, motor driven shaft, which is concentric with the rotary mounting shaft for the saw frame and is gear-connected to the respective saw blades. A pipe lifting cam is synchronously associated with the rotation of the saw frame, for lifting, supporting and confining the moving pipe each time a saw blade moves into cutting position.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a wedge actuating drive for reciprocating cold reducing tube mills. The wedge drive is driven in common with the main crank which reciprocates the roll carriage, so as to be synchronized therewith. Upper and lower roll positioning wedges are arranged to be cyclicly inserted in and withdrawn from roll-closing positions, by means of eccentric drive shaft means associated with each of the wedges, one above and one below the pass line for the workpieces.Indexing drive means is provided for the eccentric shaft means, whereby during continuous rotation of the main drive shaft for the system, the eccentric drive shaft means for the wedges are actuated intermittently, so that wedge actuation occurs, as desired, only during the periods when the crank-driven roll carriage nears the end extremities of its reciprocating stroke.