Abstract: The bottom roll of a roll stack in a calender is constructed as a controlled deflection roll equipped with a non-rotatable carrier or support beam and a roll shell rotatable about the non-rotatable carrier. The roll shell is supported on the non-rotatable carrier by means of hydraulic support or pressure elements. The non-rotatable carrier is supported with respect to the calender stand by means of hydraulic carrier support devices. For the rapid opening of the calender and to avoid damage to the roll shell, initially the pressure exerted on the roll shell support elements is reduced in a sudden manner and only after a predetermined time-delay is there reduced the pressure exerted on the carrier support devices.

Abstract: A roll bending apparatus for use in a multi-stage rolling mill adapted for rolling a hard material or a thin sheet material with a high uniformity of thickness along the breadth, with a high degree of accuracy and low energy. The rolling mill has work rolls of a comparatively small diameter. The amount of bend of the small-diameter work roll is controlled by the roll bending apparatus for attaining the high degree of uniformity of thickness along the breadth of the rolled material. The roll bending apparatus has, for each of said work rolls, a supporting member having a work roll supporting portion for rotatably supporting the work roll and rockable vertically about a fulcrum, and a bending force generating means adapted for engaging the supporting member so as to cause a rocking motion of the supporting member thereby applying a substantially vertical roll bending force to the work roll through the supporting member.

Abstract: A crown control compensation controlling method in a multiple roll mill, in which a variation of rolling load caused by crown control is obtained from a crown control quantity. A wedge type hydraulic reduction device is operated according to the variation of rolling load to thereby cancel such rolling load variation. Both an automatic gauge control (AGC) and an automatic shape control (AFC) can be attained while preventing a change in plate thickness caused by crown control.

Abstract: A rolling stand of the type with tie-rods that, in addition to being suitable to be easily replaced, dismantled and reassembled, it is also capable of being transformed from a two-high stand, having only a pair of parallel and motor-driven rolls, into a universal stand, composed, in addition to the pair of parallel rolls, by a further two vertical idle rolls, opposed to each other, and perpendicular to the previously mentioned cylinders.

Abstract: A six-high rolling stand has a pair of upper and lower working rolls defining a nip, a pair of upper and lower inner backup rolls vertically flanking and bearing on the working rolls, a pair of upper and lower outer backup rolls vertically flanking and bearing on the inner backup rolls, a frame, and respective journal blocks carrying the rolls in the frame and supporting the rolls therein for rotation about respective axes that are all substantially parallel with the outer roll axes at least defining a vertical plane. A drive is connected directly to the outer backup rolls for oppositely rotating same and the upper and lower rolls vertically engage one another so that the rotation of the outer backup rolls is transmitted through the inner backup rolls to the working rolls. Actuators braced between some of the journal blocks and the frame for vertically displacing at least some of the rolls horizontally perpendicular to the plane.

Abstract: A roll stand has a frame, a pair of small-diameter and substantially parallel working rolls defining a workpiece nip, and respective journal blocks supporting the working rolls in the frame for rotation about substantially parallel axes flanking the nip. These working-roll journal blocks and the respective working rolls can be axially shifted in the frame and the working rolls can be bent positively and negatively, that is respectively convex and concave toward the workpiece. A pair of large-diameter and substantially parallel backup rolls flank and bear toward the nip on the working rolls. Respective journal blocks support the backup rolls in the frame for rotation about substantially parallel axes flanking and generally coplanar with the working-roll axes. A strip is passed repeatedly in a multipass run through the nip generally perpendicular to the plane while the working rolls are pressed against the workpiece to reduce its thickness.

Abstract: A method of operating a controlled deflection roll having a stationary roll support or beam and a roll shell or jacket rotatable about the stationary roll support. The rotatable roll shell is supported in relation to the stationary roll support by means of hydrostatic pressure elements. The roll shell is displaceably guided in guides in relation to the stationary roll support for movement in a press or pressure plane. Between the rotatable roll shell and the stationary roll support, supporting or carrier members are operated and regulated for taking-up the inherent weight of the rotatable roll shell within the range of mobility of the rotatable roll shell in relation to the stationary roll support or beam.

Abstract: A pressing machine includes a roller and a pressing shoe which can be moved towards and away from the roller to exert pressure on the roller or on a material in a gap between the shoe and the roller. The shoe is mounted in a pressure chamber to which hydraulic pressure medium can be supplied to move the shoe. Upon movement towards the roller, the shoe applies pressure over a zone extending for a part of the circumference of the roller. Means is mounted on the pressing shoe for altering the length of this zone in the circumferential direction of the roller. To this end, the shoe may have two movable jaws which establish said zone, the jaws being movable by adjusting means over a cylindrical surface of said shoe which has substantially the same centre of curvature as the roller. The pressing shoe is particularly advantageous in a paper machine for dewatering a web of paper or for supporting the rollers of a rolling apparatus.

Abstract: The rolling mill stand, for example a four-high rolling mill stand, for strip mills, with adjusting devices acting horizontally and/or vertically on the rolls for roll nip regulation is characterized by a dual bearing for the work rolls (1, 2) in respectively two inner and outer mounting members (5, 6), which latter, for attaining the same change in shape over the strip width, are horizontally adjustable by deflecting the rolls (1, 2) in the horizontal direction by adjusting devices (7, 8), as well as by a positional control of the inner and/or outer mounting members (5, 6). With the aid of the horizontal deflection device, a position-controlled horizontal adjustment of the work rolls (1, 2) can be performed for compensating for the horizontal forces and/or for a strip thickness regulation while maintaining the horizontal bending curve (13) of the work rolls required for planeness of the strip (14).

Abstract: A rolling mill arrangement having at least one roll carrying a sleeve forming a cavity with the roll body near the two opposed ends of the roll. Pressurized fluid is regulated in these cavities to counteract "edge drop" which occurs at the edges of a product under the conventional procedures for controlling the mill for effecting control of the edge thickness of the strip when reducing the product along its width.

Abstract: A back up roll assembly for supporting an intermediate roll and an upper work roll consists of a plurality of rotatable rollers spaced apart on a common shaft by fixed saddles and in engagement with the intermediate roll. The number of saddles exceeds one more than the number of rollers so that the back up roll assembly begins and ends with a saddle, each saddle being engaged by a piston cylinder assembly mounted in a frame, which frame takes up all of the rolling load and adds rigidity to the compensating system. Each piston cylinder assembly controls the positioning of its saddle and its neighboring rollers to exert a localized influencing effect onto the intermediate roll to compensate for, and/or control roll deflection.

Abstract: A roll stand has a frame, an upper backup roll and a lower backup roll rotatable in the frame about respective vertically spaced axes, and an upper working roll and a lower working roll flanked by and operatively engaging the respective backup rolls. A workpiece normally passes horizontally through the nip formed by the working rolls. Actuators can urge the backup rolls toward each other with a high force and with a low force. Respective upper and lower drives are connected to the respective backup rolls and energizable for rotating same and thereby pulling the workpiece engaged between the working rolls through the roll stand. A clutch is connected between one of the drives and the respective backup roll and is openable to rotationally disconnect the one drive from its backup roll. A controller is connected to the one drive and the clutch for deenergizing the one drive and opening the clutch for low-force rolling. For high-force rolling the clutch is closed and both drives are energized.

Abstract: The rolling apparatus contains a controlled deflection roll and, in order to improve uniformity of the roll nip or gap or to more precisely maintain a desired rolling profile, a counter roll contains a journal-less tubular roll or shell which is articulatedly supported at a support beam or at supports of a roll stand. The support distance of the counter roll at the most is equal to the effective support distance in the controlled deflection roll. The bending lines of the controlled deflection roll and of the counter roll thus can be matched in an improved manner.

Abstract: A roll for a foil-drawing calender or the like which is substantially solid, has a central longitudinal bore hole and has journals supported in outer bearings in a roll stand. In the longitudinal bore hole is a stationary core which is supported, at axial locations corresponding to the ends of the working width, via inner bearings in the longitudinal bore hole and is braced via a hydraulic force-exerting arrangement acting in the working plane of the roll in a direction toward the roll gap and against the inside circumference of the longitudinal bore hole. In the vicinity of the inner bearings and in the region of the outer bearings, load-relieving hydraulic force-exerting arrangements are provided which brace the core against the inside circumference of the longitudinal bore hole and act in the action plane of the roll in the direction opposed to that of the other hydraulic force-exerting arrangement.

Abstract: Controlling for obtaining the aimed strip shape using a rolling mill provided with rolls, which are variable in amount of crown by feeding a pressurized oil in the inside. In addition, the rolling mill is provided with right and left pressing-down balancers and roll benders. The strip shape in the width direction of the strip is detected, the detected shape being approximated by a function including terms of the first, second, fourth, sixth or eighth power of a variable, which is a position or a distance in the width direction of the strip, the amount of pressing-down of the right and left pressing-down balancers being adjusted to coincide the term of the first power with the aimed value thereof, the amount of crown of the roll being adjusted to coincide the term of the second power with the aimed value thereof, and a roll bending force being adjusted to coincide the term of the fourth, sixth or eighth power with the aimed value thereof.

Abstract: A rolling stand has a support frame, a pair of small-diameter working rolls defining a workpiece nip open perpendicular to the plane and rotatable about respective horizontal, parallel, and vertically spaced axes. A pair of large-diameter backup rolls are rotatable about respective axes parallel to and vertically flanking the working-roll axes. These backup-roll axes define a vertical plane offset from the working-roll plane. In addition each backup roll bears vertically on the respective working roll and a drive counterrotates the rolls of each roll pair to draw an elongated workpiece of predetermined maximum width generally perpendicular to the planes through the nip. The working rolls are longer than the maximum workpiece width and have end portions projecting axially beyond the workpiece. The rolls are pressed vertically toward the nip to compress and deform the workpiece thereat.

Abstract: A roll stand comprises a plurality of axially shiftable working rolls, each attached by supporting members axially slidably to a guide member which is movable vertically adjustably against the side of a cylinder block installed in the roll stand housing. Axially shifting hydraulic cylinders are provided to axially shift the working rolls by acting on the guide pieces. In particular a plurality of balancing hydraulic cylinders are installed in laterally projecting shoulders in the cylinder blocks behind each other in the axial shifting direction of the rolls and act on the working rolls to provide balancing and bending forces. In order to install only cylinder blocks of reduced size, the balancing hydraulic cylinders operating downwardly and the balancing hydraulic cylinders taken individually along the axial shifting direction project alternately downward and upward from the shoulder of the cylinder block associated with them and act on the guide pieces on which the working rolls are mounted.

Abstract: A method of and an apparatus for controlling the load distribution ratio among a plurality of stands in a continuous rolling mill preferentially performs load distribution ratio control between or among a group of downstream side ones of the stands including the last stand to appropriately correct the load distribution ratio between or among the downstream side stands.Subsequently, correction of the load distribution ratio is performed for a group of the downstream side stands and an upstream stand, and this will be repeated in order for the upstream side stands to effect correction of the load distribution ratio for the entire stands.

Abstract: A roll stand has a frame in which upper and lower working rolls are journaled for rotation about respective parallel upper and lower working-roll axes and defining a workpiece nip. Respective upper and lower backup-roll guide elements vertically flank the working rolls and are each at least partially vertically displaceable relative to the frame. Respective upper and lower backup-roll journal blocks are axially displaceable but vertically fixed relative to the guide elements and define parallel upper and lower inner axes flanking the working axes. Respective inner backup rolls are journaled in the blocks for rotation about the inner axes and bear radially toward the nip on the working rolls. The inner backup rolls are therefore axially displaceable in the guide elements. A pair of outer backup rolls are journaled in the frame for rotation about outer axes coplanar with the respective inner axes and bear radially toward the nip on the inner backup rolls.

Abstract: Upper and lower reducing rolls are mounted within a mill housing for rotation about their axes and for parallel movement. Actuating cylinders force the upper reducing roll downward toward the lower reducing roll to effect a separation force on a workpiece that is placed therebetween. Four direct drive motors, one directly coupled to each end of the upper and lower reducing rolls, counter-rotate the reducing rolls to drive the workpiece therebetween. The motors are synchronized within a close tolerance of a set speed to prevent torsion of one end of the reducing rolls relative to the opposite end. Preferably, the rolling mill includes closely enclosed backing rolls engaging the reducing rolls to prevent deflection of the reducing rolls under load. This allows the rolling mill to produce a flat workpiece over a wide range of separation forces by means of cylindrical reducing rolls.

Abstract: Horizontal supporting rolls disposed at a lateral side of the work rolls support the work rolls in the direction of travel of the rolled material, and horizontal back-up rolls disposed at a lateral side of the horizontal supporting rolls back-up the horizontal supporting rolls. Frames rotatably hold the horizontal supporting rolls and the horizontal back-up rolls at both axial ends of these rolls, and a first driving mechanism causes a movement of the frames in the direction of travel of the material to be rolled and to impart to the work rolls desired pressing force acting in the direction of travel of the rolled material. A second driving mechanism restrains the position of the frames thus setting the work rolls at predetermined offset positions, provided on the face of the housing confronting the holding means and adapted to guide the movement of the holding member in the direction of travel of the rolled material.

Abstract: In rolling metal foils, such as aluminum foils, especially very thin foils in the range down to 10 .mu.m, an improved uniformity of the foil thickness over the width of the foil sheet and, simultaneously, greater rolling speeds of the foil sheet are obtained by operating the rolling apparatus at a working point of the rolling force/material-working or line force/deformation characteristic curve which lies below the saturation region in which, while the material-working or deformation is nearly independent of the rolling or line force, the rolling or pulling speed is determined by other parameters and can not be varied. The thickness variations occurring under this selection of the working point and due to variations in the rolling or line force over the width of the rolls are compensated by regulating the rolling or line force such that the thickness reduction is constant over the width of the sheet or has a desired profile of variation.

Abstract: A mill and a method for rolling flat workpieces of great width such as metallic strip, plates and the like. The mill comprises upper and lower housing beams joined at their ends by pairs of channels defining windows in which chocks are slidably mounted. Upper and lower work rolls are mounted in the chocks to maintain the work rolls in the vertical plane of symmetry of the mill. Each work roll is provided with a plurality of pressure transmitting elements evenly spaced therealong and contacting a part of the periphery of the work roll. The set of pressure transmitting elements for the upper work roll is operatively affixed to the upper housing beam and the set of pressure transmitting elements for the lower work roll is operatively affixed to the lower housing beam. The pressure transmitting elements of at least one of the sets are each provided with a fluid pressure actuator by which the pressure exerted by that pressure transmitting element on its respective work roll can be rapidly increased or decreased.

Abstract: A roll stand has a frame and a pair of small-diameter and substantially parallel working rolls defining a workpiece nip. Thus a strip to be rolled passes in a horizontal upstream-to-downstream direction through the nip. Respective pairs of upper and lower upstream support levers have outer ends pivoted on the frame and inner ends downstream therefrom and respective pairs of upper and lower downstream support levers have outer ends pivoted on the frame downstream of the nip and inner ends pivoted on the inner ends of the upstream levers. Respective pairs of journal blocks mounted on the inner ends of the levers support the working rolls for rotation about substantially parallel axes flanking the nip. A pair of large-diameter and substantially parallel backup rolls flank and bear toward the nip on the working rolls and are rotatable in the frame about substantially parallel axes flanking the working-roll axes and offset therefrom in the direction.

Abstract: A leveling apparatus for leveling strips of metallic material comprising a support housing; a guide tube, rotatably attached to the support housing, having a hollow interior and a longitudinal slot; a cylindrical support roll, rotatably attached to the housing and positioned within the guide tube; a cylindrical work roll having a diameter substantially less than the support roll and positioned within the slot; and a feedback control for rotating the guide tube to position the work roll such that forces exerted upon the work roll by a metallic strip passing over it act to hold the work roll against the support roll, and tangential components of the force tending to urge the work roll against the guide tube are minimized. In a preferred embodiment, the control comprises a pair of opposing cylinders which are pressurized by a source of compressed fluid.

Abstract: A rolling mill having an upper set of rolls which has a work roll and a backup roll, and a lower set of rolls which has a work roll and a backup roll. Two parallel intermediate rolls are arranged between the work roll and the backup roll of either upper set or lower set or both sets, each of the intermediate rolls being supported by corresponding support rolls. The support rolls can be shifted toward and away from the corresponding intermediate rolls.

Abstract: A rolling mill roll stand has a housing removably mounted on a lower bridge. A pair of work rolls and their respective bearings and bearing chocks are contained within the housing. Separating devices act on the bearing chocks to maintain a gap between the work rolls. Hydraulic roll positioning cylinders are carried in the lower bridge and are arranged to act on the bearing chocks of one of the work rolls. The housing together with the work rolls, bearing chocks and separating devices is removable as a unit from the lower bridge, while allowing the hydraulic positioning cylinders to remain undisturbed.

Abstract: In a rolling mill of the type in which horizontal pushing forces are exerted to a work roll exerted with a rolling force so as to bend the work roll, thereby controlling the flatness of a strip being rolled, a method and apparatus for controlling rolling correction in the rolling mill for eliminating variations in rolling load due to the horizontal pushing forces.

Abstract: Hydraulic safety device for the mechanism for closing up the rolls of a rolling mill, comprising an hydraulic safety valve (20) which is accommodated directly inside the jack (1) for closing up the mill rolls and which automatically reduces the pressure of the fluid in the control chamber (12) as soon as the stroke of the body (11) of the jack reaches a predetermined limiting position.

Abstract: A roll stand has a frame having two sides spaced apart transversely of a workpiece travel direction and formed with throughgoing windows and a pair of vertically spaced traverses extending between the frame sides. Two outer backup rolls centered on parallel axes transverse to the direction having journal blocks vertically displaceable and guided in the windows of the frame sides. Upper and lower guide elements vertically displaceable in the windows between the outer-roll blocks carry the journal blocks of two inner backup rolls. Pairs of positioning actuators in the windows vertically between the inner-roll blocks carry supports which carry second upper and lower guide elements vertically displaceable on the supports. The positioning actuators are expansible and contractile to displace the second guide elements in the direction. Two working rolls between and parallel to the other roll axes each have two journal blocks fitted to and axially slidable in the second guide elements.

Abstract: A rolling mill for the treatment of sheet material comprises two work rolls (1, 2) which define a nip between which a web of material (3) is passed for rolling. The work rolls (1,2) are offset in a horizontal direction relatively to back-up rolls (4,5), so that the plane containing the axes (A,A) extends parallel to but offset relative to the plane containing the axes (B,B) of the back-up rolls (4,5). Supporting devices (9) are associated with the work rolls (1,2) and support the work rolls in the direction opposite to that in which they are offset from the back up rolls. The supporting devices (9) comprise hydrostatic supporting elements (19,20,21) which are arranged parallel to the longitudinal axis (A) of the work rolls (1,2) and comprise hydrostatic pressure pockets (29) which face towards the surfaces being supported in each case and can be individually controllable.

Abstract: A roll stand has a frame in which upper and lower working rolls are journaled for rotation about respective parallel upper and lower working-roll axes and defining a workpiece nip. Respective upper and lower backup-roll guide elements vertically flank the working rolls and are each at least partially vertically displaceable relative to the frame. Respective upper and lower backup-roll journal blocks are axially displaceable but vertically fixed relative to the guide elements and define parallel upper and lower inner axes flanking the working axes. Respective inner backup rolls are journaled in the blocks for rotation about the inner axes and bear radially toward the nip on the working rolls. The inner backup rolls are therefore axially displaceable in the guide elements. A pair of outer backup rolls are journaled in the frame for rotation about outer axes coplanar with the respective inner axes and bear radially toward the nip on the inner backup rolls.

Abstract: In a hydrostatic support member a piston which is axially movable in a pressurized fluid medium-supplied cylinder carries at the end thereof which is remote from the cylinder at least two bearing shoes which are axially movable independently of each other and which can be inclined relative to each other. There is achieved an automatic adaptation of the bearing or running surface of the support member to a counter surface changing in distance, shape and curvature even throughout a wide tolerance range. Such a support member is particularly suited for supporting the working rolls in a rolling mill, the diameter of which decreases during the operating or service life thereof, or for the support of back-up or supporting rolls backing-up the working rolls.

Abstract: The apparatus and method make possible the semi-continuous rolling of an extensive range of product widths from no more than three widths of slabs. The leading end of a slab is forged or upset laterally between dies tapered to reduce its width at said end gradually to a value less than the desired width at the end of the pass. The slab is then passed through grooved vertical edging rolls to reduce its width and into the rolls of a roughing stand. The edge rolling tends to move the overfilled metal into the void created by the dies. As the trailing end of the slab approaches the roughing stand the edging rolls are backed off, allowing that end of the slab to fan out laterally. As the slab leaves the roughing stand it is rolled between grooved vertical edging rolls to reduce spread and bring the fanned-out trailing end to size. That operation causes the trailing end to bulge rearwardly at its center, so compensating for fishtailing.

Abstract: An arrangement for controlling the pressing or line force of a controlled deflection roll comprises a common adjustment or setting element for separate controllable supporting force sources or force-applying sources. Between the adjustment element and the force-applying sources there are connected converters for generating control signals in accordance with a conversion function which, depending upon the nature and/or site of the force-applying sources, has different characteristics. The converter enables interposing correction signals.

Abstract: The present invention considerably improves the rolling mill in the flatness control function, by arranging either of a pair of upper and lower work rolls as a small-diameter roll, offsetting the small-diameter work roll by a required distance in the rolling direction, providing an intermediate roll between the small-diameter work roll and a backup roll, letting a vertical bending force act on the upper and lower work rolls and the intermediate roll, and letting a horizontal bending force act on the small-diameter work roll.

Abstract: A rolling mill having hydraulic cylinders in each housing to adjust the roll gap is provided with a control system whereby a workpiece is kept on a central path through the mill and is prevented from wandering from this path towards one of the mill housings. The system includes a pair of circuits and a connector between the circuits for averaging the load on each housing and controlling the roll gap in accordance with a certain mill stretch factor. The difference between the loads is also obtained and a signal, in accordance with a different stretch factor, is applied to the housing with the heaviest load and a signal of the same magnitude, but opposite polarity, is applied to the other housing.

Abstract: An apparatus, for controlling the re-distribution of a load in a longitudinal direction of a single strip (which is called hereinafter within the plate) on a multistage continuous rolling mill, stores a standard expression of the distribution of the load for maintaining a product's shape constant within the plate. A screw-down correction computer system calculates deviations from this reference equation and controls a rolling force on each of the rolling mills. It thereby maintains the standard expression of the distribution of the load by iteratively correcting a roll opening on each of the rolling mills within the plate. The control of the load distribution among the roll stands is effected after the roll material has entered all of the roll stands.

Abstract: The invention contemplates a prestressed rolling mill incorporating a system of hydraulically operated load-transfer blocks, wherein the blocks are of unitary construction and bodily interposed between vertically opposed regions of upper and lower back-up roll chocks, at the respective inlet and exit sides of each axial end of the mill. Each load-transfer block is inherently self-adapting (at each of a plurality of force-application regions) to such small locally different deformations in the mill frame as result from the block's modulating contribution to net prestressing force; further, each load-transfer block includes its own hydraulic-control system with minimum-displacement actuators whereby a fast time constant of hydraulic response is achieved.

Abstract: A rolling mill system for the continuous rolling of metal strip or strand into a strip of predetermined thickness and straightness is disclosed. The system includes a frame in which two metal working rolls are mounted in such a way that both the distance or nip between the rolls and the tilt of one roll with respect to the other may be regulated by two gap adjusting devices mounted in the roll frame on opposite sides of the centerline of the metal strip. At least one of the gap adjusting devices is operated responsive to a signal representing a measurement of the straightness of the strip product. The gap adjusting devices are hydraulic assemblies wherein each piston is affixed to a piston rod and each piston rod is affixed at its opposite end to a chock block in which the movable roll is carried. A position indicating rod which constitutes part of a position transducer is affixed to the opposite face of each piston to allow for monitoring of the actual distance between the two rolls at each end thereof.

Abstract: In a rolling mill containing two work rolls and, as desired, supporting or back-up rolls, a rapid adjustment of the roll gap or nip with elimination of effects due to elastic elongation of the roll framework or stand is achieved in that when structuring at least one of the rolls as a controlled deflection roll containing a stationary roll support and a rotatable roll shell rotating thereabout, there is measured the position of the inner side or surface of the roll shell and an automatic control serves to adjust or readjust the roll gap or nip by causing changes in the pressure exerted upon the hydrostatic supporting or pressure elements placed intermediate the stationary roll support and the rotatable roll shell.

Abstract: A rolling mill is disclosed containing a roll stand equipped with two work rolls which are braced at back-up or support rolls which can be constructed as controlled deflection rolls. The work rolls are equipped at their opposed ends with bending devices for applying a bending moment. Simplified designs of the rolling mill contemplate constructing one of the back-up or support rolls as a solid roll. Furthermore, one of the work rolls can be omitted.

Abstract: A process for rolling a metal strip for reducing its thickness and for increasing the maximum reduction attainable per pass using a cooperative type rolling mill comprises applying differential separating forces to the metal strip without changing the magnitude of the compressive force applied to the rolls. By doing this, the maximum strip tension and the forward tension required to pull the strip through the mill may be reduced. The maximum strip tension and the required forward tension force may further be reduced by driving at least one work roll at a desired value of torque as well as applying differential separating forces. The cooperative type rolling mill uses a roll spacing arrangement to space at least some of the rolls for reducing the separating force applied to the metal strip at selected roll bites. In addition, individual drive motors to drive the work rolls at desired torque values may be utilized.

Abstract: A rolling mill or apparatus comprises position detectors or sensors which are disposed upon movable roll shells or movable solid rolls possessing, for instance, hydraulic support or pressure elements. The position detectors act upon regulators for regulating a force differential between a larger pressing force exerted by bottom or lower support elements in relation to a lesser pressing force exerted by top or upper support elements. The excess or resultant of the pressing force produced by the bottom support or pressure elements decreases with increasing height of the position of the rolls until there is established an equilibrium position. During operation there exists an equilibrium condition between the upwardly directed force of the bottom support elements and the sum of the downwardly directed pressing force of the upper or top support elements and the weight of all of the parts therebetween.

Abstract: A roll stand arrangement contains work rolls and back-up or support rolls, the work rolls being laterally supported by hydrostatic support ledges. Within each upright or support stand of the roll stand arrangement there is provided a guide frame which is guided within a window of the related support stand together with mounting elements for the back-up or support rolls. Within the guide frame there are guided the mounting elements of the work rolls in slide elements. There are simultaneously pivotably supported in the slide elements the shaft or bearing journals of the support ledges.

Abstract: In roll arrangements composed of a controlled deflection roll and a counter element the controlled deflection roll is supported by discrete force-applying sources. On the one hand, these force-applying sources are set or adjusted in accordance with a predeterminable mean pressing force and, on the other hand, also can be externally corrected. An external correction also influences the pressing force at the region of neighboring force-applying sources, sometimes in an undesired fashion. According to the invention when there is accomplished an external correction there is acted upon in an opposite sense at least one force-applying source neighboring the externally corrected force-applying source.

Abstract: A new rolling mill configuration is provided containing fourteen rolls and which may be described as an improved six-high arrangement. The mill contains two substantially identical upper and lower roll clusters. Each roll cluster comprises a floating work roll, a chock mounted intermediate roll and a chock mounted back-up roll. The work roll is supported laterally by a pair of chock mounted side intermediate rolls and each side intermediate roll is supported by a single side backing roller assembly. The chocks of each side intermediate roll and the adjacent side backing roller assembly are supported by an adjustable stationary rigid support beam assembly.

Abstract: A combination for accurately determining the position of the movable part of a piston-cylinder device relative to the fixed part includes a long stroke position transducer movable in the operating direction of the device; a structure movable with the piston-cylinder device and which has a part extending in the operating direction; two position transducers positioned side-by-side and their direction of movement is normal to the operating direction. The movable parts of the two position transducers bear against the part of the structure. If there is no tilting of the piston within the cylinder, then electrical signals from the two position transducers remain unchanged, but the signals are changed if the piston tilts within the cylinder.

Abstract: A controlled deflection roll contains support elements or groups of such support elements which support the roll shell in relation to the roll support with forces which differ with respect to one another in accordance with a predetermined function, notwithstanding the fact that the support elements are acted upon by the same control signal from a common control source. When using hydraulic support elements this can be realized by throttle elements or throttle means located in the infeed line to one of the support elements which, if desired, also can possess a cross-sectional area which differs from the cross-sectional area of the simultaneously controlled support elements.

Abstract: The mill stand houses a pair of upper backup rolls and a pair of lower backup rolls between which pairs the upper and lower roll drive shafts are journalled. The overhung work rolls are affixed to the ends of the drive shafts. Apparatus is provided for automatically adjusting the work rolls longitudinally, for automatically adjusting the loading on the backup rolls and for maintaining the drive shafts parallel under load. An automatic gauge control system for making the above adjustments and capable of varying the mill stand modulus or spring continuously from a stiff or constant roll gap modulus to a soft or constant pressure modulus is also described.