CA1097956A - Method of producing shaped rolled sections and a production line for carrying same into effect - Google Patents

Abstract

METHOD OF PRODUCING SHAPED ROLLED SECTIONS AND
A PRODUCTION LINE FOR CARRYING SAME INTO EFFECT

Abstract of the Disclosure Proposed herein is a method of producing shaped rolled sections, residing in that the blank is subjected to plastic working by being rolled and cold formed in rolls, with the former put in between the blank and the rolls; the former being made as a rod-like structure arranged lengthwise the axis along which plastic working occurs, whereas the vacant end thereof is brought outside the zone of plastic working.
A production line for carrying the method into effect is also the subject of the present invention.

Description

~ he present in~e~tion rela-tes generall~process tech~iques a~d equipme~t ~or rolling a~d cold fo~rming o~ complex shaped sectio~s~ and ha~ particular re~erence to a me~hod of produc-ing shaped rolled sections a~d a produc-tion li~ë ~or carryin~
same i~to e~ect.
The in~ention can f'ind application ~or rolling ~errous and non-fexrous complex shaped sectio~s on sectio~ mills and coldroll for~ing machines, mostly in ~mall-lot series. Use o~ the prese~t invention made on the now-running mills and on those under cons-truction enables one to produce accurately rolled and inexpensive compla~ shaped ~ectio~s.
I~ a majori-ty of industrially developed countrieæ
-throughou~ -the world there occurs an evergrowing ~eed in exte~ding the ~ou~t of rolli~g shapes, which is accounted for by a rapid growth o~ diverse metal-con~umin~ branc~es of engineering industries. ~hat i~ wh~ a problem of developing novel proce~s tech~iques and production equipment ~or manu-~acturing highly economic shaped rolled sections has come into bein~, Such process tec~niques should ~irst reduce the prime cost of production o~ complex æhap0d sections~ secondly, thay mus-~ provide for the rollir~; mill. -to be reset for producing another section; t~irdly~ the~ mus~ be capable o~ producing (by way OI rolli~g and cold:roll :Eormi~g) such sec-tioDæ that can be p~oduced earli~r only in metal-cutting machine tools.
rl'he me~hod o~ producirlg compLex l~le~al section3 for ma:king divers0 articles there:~rom t~at is mos t con~nonly applied

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currently is a mechanlcal treatment of the articles in metal-cutting machine tools, such as milling, shapiny, planing, etc.
The metal cu-tting (machining) me-thod is not, however, free from disadvantages of which the cardinal ones are low S metal utilization factor, restricted length of sections and high prime cost of finished articles. In addition, the method in question has low productivity by virtue of being a discon-tinuous one.
Applied on an adequately wide scale is a rnethod of `~0 producing shaped sections by hot or cold pressing.
Principal disadvantages inherent in the above process are high prime cost of finished products, low productivity and low durabiliky of the tool used.
One more process is known for producing regularly variable-shaped sections by way of lengthwise rolliny.
The method suffers from the following disadvantages:
restricted length of regularly variable-shape portion in the finished section, narrow range of rolled sections produced, much time spent for proceeding from one section to another.
;~o There has been used in the recent few years a method of producing shaped sections by burnishing, consisting in es-tablishing the stresses on the surface of khe workpiece under treatment that exceed the yield strength of the material involved, with due account of its hardening. Made use of as shaping tools are flat and segmented (split) dies, as well as roll and ball burnishers.

~ he diæad~an-tage o~ ~he prscess resides in -that i-t is ins-trume~tal only i~ producing res-~ric-~ed-len~th sectio~s o~ highly specialized equipme~-t which increa~es the prime cost o~ the finished sec-tions~
~ nother broadly ex-tended p~ocess ~or producing aiversely shaped sectio~s is t~e drawi~
Howe~er, high la~our consump-tion involved in -the sta~e : of rough de~ormation resul-ts in low productiYity~ i~ addition, t~e overall dimensions o~ the ~inished sec-tions are substan-tially limited~
: The presen-t-day practice know~ also t~e proces~ ~or pro-duci~ shaped sections by cold ~o~ming on ,special coldroll ~orming mills.
" '~he method~ however, places limitation upon -the æize-: and-pat~ern range and configuration o~ sections obtained~
Known in the presentt day prac~ice is on0 prior ar-i;
method of rolling strip ætock, incorporatin~ plastic de~or-ma~ion o~ the blan~ between -two rolls of a rolling mill~ a ri~-shaped former bei~g set in between 02e of said rolls ; and an addi-tional ro-ll.
~ he process o~ rolling Oi~es a len~thwise tapered section depending upon the con~igura-tion of the former used ~c-f. US
Patent No. 3,499,305, Cl.72-7 B21b 37~14 31/30).
~ he aforesaid ~nown method but restricts ~he xange rolled products obtained to leng-thwise tapered s0ctions only.

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A method o~ precision cold xolling is llkewise k~own~
according to whic~ the preshaped blank is rolled against t~e ~ormer put in the internal por-tio~ o~ the sec-tio~. rl`he ~ormer is a rod~like structure ~eaturing ~ariable cross sectio~
as ~or length.
'~he ~ormer is traversed along wi-th -the blank in the course o~ the rolling process (cf~ Japanese Pa-tent ~o ~ 1~6, 656, ~l . 12C 22~, 2 1969~ .
~ he cardinal disad~antage o~ the method is a restricted ra~ge o~ the rolled sectio~s produced.
O~e more method o~ producing sh~ped rolled sections is i~ current use, residing in roll ~ormi~g o~ a stepped-thic~
ness s-trip stock, -the essence o~ the method thus co~sis-tin~
in a combination of -the rolling a~d ~v.rmin$ processes in a single pass (c~. U~ Patent ~o.3,850,019 Cl~B21b l/123 72-199, lg72~ ~
~ he basic disadvantage the a~o~e method su~ers ~rom is a sophisticated reprogramming o~ the produc-tion process;
more-o~er, the range o-~ produc-ts obtained by t~e method is limited.
Still ano-ther method of producing shaped sections co~sists i~ putting together the bl~nk and a harder -~ormer and i~
their joi~t rolling at a constant clearance between the rolls of a mill (cf. U~ Patent No. ~L~99~05~ C1072-7 is~ued in 1970~.

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~ owever~ t~e aforesaid method is i~capable o~ produ¢ing extra-long rolled sections. In addi~ion; the pxime cost o~
~he sectio~s produced by t~ meth~d is ~ery ~igh due to high production C05tS 0~ long-sized ~ormers.
Yet still another me-thod o~ leng-th~ise rolling is known to u~e ~er~-to~ore (G~. U~R Au-thor~s Gerti~'ica-te ~o.345,98~9 Cl.B21b 1/3~t i~sued in 1971~9 i~corporating blank reduction in betwee~ the roll and the beari~g surface and periodic putting o~ additicnal working roll~ into the ~one o~ plastic wor~ln~ and inæerting these between the strip bei~g rolled and the bearing surface.
p lac~s However, the above method ~l~e a substantial ~imitation upo~ the range of rolled products thus obtai~0d as both the shape o~ ormer and i~s traYersi~g æ e restricted. Only narrow-gauge variable-thic~ness band stock can prac~ically `. be ob-tained by the above method,, l~now~ in the prior art i~ a production line ~or manu-~ac-turing shaped ~olled sectio~æ, incorporating the ~ollow-: in~ series-axra~ed ~echani~ns: blank feeder de~ice, decoiler deviceg fl~ing shears9 s-traightening machin~s~ blank pre-heaters, mill wor~ing stands wit~ entr~ and exit ~oll ~i-ttingsy coi].in~ reel~ outting devices (shears), cooler, stock handl.ing mechanisms, all -the abovesaid mechanisms being interconnec~ed throug~ co~veying deYices.
~ '~e known production line suf~ers ~rom the disadYa~t~ges ` that it is unable -t-o ~roduGe complex shaped sections havi g :' : `

cro~s-~ectional area variable as :Eor length~ with the length of varia~le~a:~ea portion in excess oP the roll ci:c~c~-~er~n-tial len~;-th, involves ~uch -time was-ted for changi~ over ~rom o~e section to another and high roll co~sump-tion ra-te7 I-t i~ an Q~ject o~ the pre~en-t i~ve~tioll to develop a method o~' producing comple~ shaped rolled sec-tio~s tha-t i9 in-strumen-tal in :reducing the prime cost o:~ -the rolled sec-tions obtained on the hereto~ore-known p~oduc-tion plants.
It is arLother objec-t o:E -the presell-t ir~veIl-tion to produce unlimited-length rolled section~, ~eaturing complex cross-sectional shape and a preset short-length variabls~area por-tion.
It i~ still anoth~r o~ject o~ the present in~ention to reduce the roll cor~umption rate and decrease the period o~
time spent ~or c~larlging over ~rom one section to another.
It is yet still anot~er object of the present i~entio~
to pxovide a production line capable o~ carrying into e~fec-t the a~oresaid me-thod o~ producing shaped rolled ~ec-tion~O
Said object~ are acco~pli.shed due to the ~act that in a me-thod o~ producing ¢omplex shaped rolled sections b~ sub-jec-tiDg the blank to plastic working -through rolling and coldroll ~orming and by virtue of putting the former in bet-ween the blank and at least one of the rolls, ~cs~-ording to -the in~ention the ~ormer is essentiall~ a rod-like struc-ture arranged len~thwise t~e axis o~ plastic working, while the vacant end-thereof is brou~;ht ou-tside the zone o:E plastic working O

~9 7 9rj6 Such a method is instrumental in producing unlirni-ted-len~th rolled sections and in reducing the prime cost of the finished stock due to lower cost of the workiny tool ~viz., the former)~
In one aspect oE the present invenkion, there is provided a method of producing rolled sections shaped along an axis of plastic worXing, residing in that a blan~ is subjected to plastic working in a plastic working zone by being rolled and cold formed by rolls, with a former movable with respect to said blank during rolling interposed between said blank and at least one of said rolls, said former being made as a rod-like structure arranged lenythwise the axis of plastic working;
said former having a vacant end which remains outside the zone of plastic workiny during rolling of the blank.
~5 According to one of -the embodiments of the present in-vention, the vacant former end is fixed stationary in position outside the zone of plastic workiny.
The above feature reduces the roll cons1lmption rate, decreases the size range of roll passes and cuts down the amount ~o of off-time spent for rearranging the rolls of a mill.
It is expedient that ~he vacant former end be imparted at least one of the four degrees of freedom.
According to one of the embodiments of the present in-vention, provision may be therein made for the former to be imparted reciprocating rnotion lengthwise the axis of plastic working.
Such an operakion enabl0s one to produce variable-width projections or depressions periodically repeated throughout the section length, as well as obtain recessed sections of the dovetail type.
Another embodiment of the invenkion resides in that the former is imparted reciprocatiny motion squarely across the axis of plastic working.
Said feature ma~es it possible to produce complex shaped rolled sections characterized by variable position of the 7~

projection or depression acxoss t~e width of -the section~
It is likewise practicable that the ~ormer be imparted rotary motion~
Such an operation enables the production o~ shaped sec-tions ~eaturin~ helical sur~ace 4~ depressio~s -thereof ~v~d~
One more em~odiment o~ t~e inven-tion ~ or ~e 1" a-~vaca~t ~ormer end to be impæ ted~up-and-down mo-tion in a plane passing thxough the ~ox~er longitudinal axi~.
P ppl~cati~
~ s6~gF~e~ o~ said motion to the ~or~ex enables it to be ~et in accordance with the required reduction ratioO ~aid mo-tion is rsco~mended to be applied particulaxl~ in the course o~ rolling.
~ he ~our degrees o~ freedv~ t~e ~ormex i~ impa~-ted dur-ing operation, viz. rota-tion, reciprocation lengthwise ox crosswise the axis o~ plasti¢ workin~ a~d up-and-down motion o~ the -Pormer vacant end make it possible to extend th~ ange o~ the rolled sec-tio~s produced and ob-tain rolled sectio~s o~ an unlimited length o~ portion re~ularly variable i~
shape or area irrespeGtive o~ bo-th roll diameter and ~ormer le~g~h. ~he degrees o~ ~reedom can be imparted to the former ei-ther individuall~ or in an7 combination~
It is also Ravourable tha-t the ~o~ner be imparted axial oscillations at a ~requenc~ ran~i~g ~rom 50 to 20,000 Hz~
~he above feature renders it possible to reduoe the ~actor o~ ~riction between the roll and the blank which in -turn reduces the rate o~ tool wear and in-tensi~ies the rolling prooess.

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One more embodLmen-t oY -t~e p~e~ent inventio~ consists in that the Yormer is pu-t into the ~one o~ plastic working be~ore ~eedir~ the blank thereinto.
Accor~in~ to the a~oresaid embodiment a p.reset~coafigu-ration E~rojection or d~pre,ss.ion i~ formed tb~ou~;hout the length of the seGtion being rolled, It is ~ot ~ometime~ ~apracticable to introduce ~he -forrner into the zsne of plastic workin~ a~-ter the blank ba~ beer ~ed -th~reinto, - Such a sequence o~ operations enables orle to impr4~e bi-ting co`hditions~ thus intensi~ing the rolling proce~s, ex-tending the range and size pa-~terns of rolled sec-tions produced.
A ~urther em~odiment o~ the proposed method is also ,~ poss`lb leS
~æ~bne~*~, according ~o which a depression is pe~ormed at the front end o~ the blank be~ore putting it i~to the zone o~ pla~tiG working, the cross sectio~al shape of sai~
depression being ~elected ts suit the cross-sectional shape of the forme~ while i-ts depth is to be within 1,01 to 1.20 - ~f the :Eo~er height, Said embodiment contributes to be-tter condi-tioDs for biting the blank b~ the mill rolls.
hn embodi~en-t o~ the method~ according to th~ i~vention possible is also ~æ~e~sr~e 3 wherein the cross-~ectional area o~ -the ~ormer i~ altered at every ~ollowin~ pa~s ~ replacing the ~ormers~

This feature is ins~rumental in extending the range of sizes of the rolled stock being produced as no limitations are irnposed upon a rniximum permissible height of the :Eormer.
It is also reasonable that at least two formers differ~
5 ing in cross-sectional area are brought into the zone o~ plastic working.
The above operation enables one to produce complex shaped sections with a number of peripherally spaced depressions differing from one another.
When the fo.rmer is vigorously cooled in the course of rolling i-ts service li.~e is much prolonged~
In some cases it would be appropriate that the rod~like former rounds up the roll on the blan~ entry side through an angle exceeding the angle o~ nip.
~he abovesaid embodiment simplifies the construction of th~ former holding and traversing means and that of the roll mill stand.
- According to one of the embodiments thereof the inven-tion makes provision for the blank to be traversed parallel to the roll axes in the course of plastic working.
The above featur2 makes it possible to produce rolled sections variable in cross-sectional area throughout the length thereof and those featuring variable position of projections or depressions across the width thereof.
~5 In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention~ there is provided a method of' producing rolled sec-tions shaped along an axis of plastic working comprising:
passing a blank to be plastic worked through individual spaced rolls thereby forming the blank in a plastic working zone;
interposing a former between the blank and at least one of said rollers, the blank and former being movable with respect to each ot'her, the former being made as a rod-like structure having a longitudinal axis being arranged lengthwise the axis of plas-tic working, having a substantially flat surface engageable by one of said rolls, having a portion engageab:le with a blank : being -formed, and 'having a portion thereof remaining outside ; . the plastic work.ing zone during forming of the blank, and im-parting movement in at least one of -three directions to the .. .. . _, _ _ _ .. .. .. ..... ... . _ . .. .

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former during working of a blank so that the former cooperates ~ with the rolls to form a contoured rolled section, the three - directions including movement lengthwise the axis of plastic working, movement transverse to the axis of plastic working, and to~and-fro movement in a plane passing through the longitudi-nal axis of the former.
The objects set forth hereinbefore are also attained due to the fact that in a production line for carryiny into effect . -lla-..... . ....... . . . .

the me-thod of producin~ shaped rolled se~tions, com~isi~g -the ~ollowi~g component~ arranged in s0ries and interco~nected through co~e~in~ means: a blanX Peeder d~vi~e~ ~lank prehea-tersi xoll mill worki~g stands along wit~ rolls and a ro-tar~
motion drive thereofl en~ry and exit xoll fi~ti~gs; cutti~g means; a cooler9 a~d stock handli~g mecha~isms5 accordia.g -to the i~ve~tion t~ere are provided before each o~ the working s-tand.~ power-assisted device~ adap-ted Por -t~ ~ormers to brin~ into the zone of blank plastic working and -~raverse said ~ormers therein7 as well as ~or ~iXin~ said ~or~ers stationar~ in positio~ and impartin~ at least o~e o~ -the ~our degrees of freedom thereto.
I-t is a~vantageous tha-t the entxy and eæit roll ~i-t-tings be p~ovided with drives adapted ~or powex-assis~ed traversi~g ~aid fittings parallel bo the roll axes i~ the cour,se o~
rolli~g and that t~e roll rotary-motion dri~e, the drive :for bringin~; the former into the zone of blank plastic working and the dri~e for power-assisted -traversing of ~he entrg and exit roll Iittings be aggregated in-to an i~tegral automa-tic control sys-tem.
~ he use of such a produc-tion line conduces to an e}~tended rarlge of the rolled s-tock produced" cuts down ~he prime cost o:~ the Iinished produc-ts and render~ the rolling process au-to^-mated.
It i~ desirable -tha-t in the produc-tion line being dis~
closed its power-a~si~t-ed device Ior the :eormers to b:ring 7~6 into the zo~e o~ plastic working and traverse said -~ormers therei~ be mad~ essentially as a oarria~e carr~i~g gri~pers ~or the ~ormers to catch which ar~ held in place thereonl said carrlage resting upon pivoted support~ and being provid-ed with a hydraulic actuator ~or being traversed parallel to the roll a~e~, as well as wibh a hydraulic ac~ua-tox Yor -the ~ripper to recipr ocate~
~ 'he invention con-tributes to a simplified construction of -khe production line involved, whereas the provision o~
h~draulic actuators ~acilitate~ o~erall automation o~ the shaped rolled sec-tio~ production process.
Suc~ a constructio~al arrangement enables -the -~ormer vaca~t end to be imparted po~itive rotation, reciprocation across or along the axis o-~ plas-tic working, or else in a ver tical plane passi~g through -the ~ormer longi-tudinal axis, said movomen~s bein~ a~signed either separately or in any com~ination with one another.
One o~ the ~urther embodiments of -the production line ., in question is characterized in tha-t the drive ~or power-assisted tx~ersing o~ -the en-try and exit roll ~itti~gs is made as hydraulic cylinders pro~ided i~ pairs on both sides o~ -t~e rolls and connected -to a common hydraulic power sy~-tem so a~ ~o tra~erse syrlchronously parallel to the roll axes with a preset ~orce Such a const~1lctional arrangement of the drive ~`or traversing said ~i-ttin~s enables the blank to be quickly traversed parallel to the roll axes while beiny su'bjected to plastic workiny, i5 readily amendable -to automation, simple in attendance and easy-to-set up.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a production line for producing shaped roll sections, comprising: a blank feeder device, blar~
preheaters connected to said blank feeder device, a conveying devlce with one of its ends connected to the blank preheater;
at least one roll mill working stand cornplete with rolls and entry and exi-t roll fittings, said wor]cinq stand being connected to receive blanks ~rom said conveying device, a rotary-rnotion drive for said rolls of the working stand; at least one fo~ner including a rod-like structure; a power-driven device for bring-ing said at least one former into a zone of blank plastic work--ing, for traversing said former in said zone during blan'kplastic working, for fixing the ~ormer in position, and for imparting at least one of four ~egrees of free~om -to the former, said power-drlven device being provided before said working stand, a cutting device adapted for severing a blank delivered from said working stand, and a cooler adapted to cool down blanks discharged from the cuttiny device.
A detailed descri~tion of some specific exemplary embodiments of the present invention is set forth hereinbelow in reference with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Flg. 1 illustrates a scheme of rolling unilaterally slotted shaped sections by making use of a ro~-like former fi~ed stationary in position, according to the present inven-tion Fig. 2 illustrates a scheme of rolling light-pattern anqle bars with the use of a former;
Fig. 3 illustrates a rolling scheme effected in the same rolls as in Fig. 2 to produce a section of another size-and-pattern;
Fig. 4 illustrates a scheme of rolling a strip into a U-shape by rnaking use of a fo~ner, Fig. 5 is a diagram of settiny the former in place be-fore feeding the blan~ into the rolls, Fig. 6 is a diayram of set-tiny the former in place after the blan'~ has been fed into the rolls;
': -14--.. : . : . _ _. _ . _ _ _ _ ... ..... _. _. _.. . .

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Fig. 7 is a diayrarn of feeding th~ blank with a pre shaped depression, showing the blank just before entering the rolls, -14a-,.. .. ..... .... ......
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~ ig. 8 illus-txates the es~ablishin~ o~ a depression a-t -the blank fron-t end~
~ 9 illustrates a scheme o~ rolling ~e blank in a tapered-roll pa~s9 using a square-shaped ~oxmer:
Fi~. 10 illustrates a scheme of a ~urther xolling O:e t~e blank as ~hown in Fig. 9 ia the next pass, usi~g a dovetail-shaped for~er7 ~ 'ig. 11 illustrates a rolling scheme and the xolled section shaped with the ~ormer reciprocati~g ~ng-t~wise the a~is of plastic working;
~ ig. 12 is t~e view of ~i.g. 11, with t~e ~ormer reciprocat-in$ ~quarel~ acro~s the axi~ o~ plastic worki~g~
~ ig. 13 is the view o~ ~ig. 11~ with the ~ormer rota-ting round the longitudinal a~is t~ereo~;
Fi~. 14 illu~trates a rolli.ng scheme and the con~igura-tion o~ the rolled sec~ion produced when the ~ormer is ~xaversed . ia tNo direc~ions a-t a time;
- Fi~. 15 illu~trate~ a blank xollinæ scheme wi~h the former imparted oscillations lengthwise the longi-tudinal ; axis thereo~, ~ig" 16 illus-tra-tes a rolling ~cheme with ~he ~ormer roundir~; up ~he roll and -the :~ormer vacan~ e~ reciprocat-rertically i~ a pla~e passi~; through -the lo~gi~u~inal ax;is thereoi:';

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~ ig. 17 illus-tra-tes a rolling ~cheme ~or producin$ a rolled sec-tion ha~Jing -three 'T-~lots;
~ ig. 18 illus-trates a bo~-pass rollin~ scheme with the u5e o~ thl~ee formers;
Fig~ 19 i~ a~ open box-pass rolli~g scheme usi~g ~our f`ormers;
Fig~ 20 is an embodiment o~ the ~ormer cooli~g sys~em as ~iewed along -the arr~w A in ~ig. l;
Fig~ 21 illustrates a dia~ram o~ power-assisted ~ravers-ing of ~he blank ac~03s -the zo~e of plastic working, ~own i~ thæ initial p~ase -thereo-f;
Fig~ æ is the view o~ ~ig. 21 ~howing -the ~inal phase o-~ the process;
~ ig. 23 represents a s~aped rolled stock productio~
line9 accorai~ to the presen~ in~e~tion; and Fi~o 24 i5 a~ embodimen-t o-Y a comple~ of mechanisMs ~or rolling compound shaped sectio~s~
~ et us now consider a ~ew exemplary embodiments carryi~
i~to e~fec~ -the me-thod of producing complex ~haped rolled ~ec~`
tio~s.
~ e~erring ~ow to the accompanying dra~ings Figo 1 represents the ~one o~ plastic working esta~lished b~ two roll5 1 and a Iormer Zg :~or a blarlk 3 to roll therein. The Iormer 2 is made rod-lik~ and is arranged lengthwi:~e -the aæis o~ plas~ic wo~l~in~, the vacan-t end of tha f~ormer 2 being brought ou-tside the abovesaid zone and being Iixed s-ta~ionary -- 16 ~
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in a gxipping chuck 4 7 whereby the ~foxT~er 2 is s-trictly held in position wi-thi~ the zo~e Qf plastic workin~ in the course o~ rolling or roll-~orming7 i~e~ a co~-tant mu-tual slippage occur~ between ~he blari~ 3 ~a ~he :eormer 20 Positive fIxing of t~e former ou-tside the ~one o~
plastic working may be the case in produci.ng rol].ed sections o~ di~ferent cross~sec-tio~al area usin~ the same set o~
rolls.
~ 'he rollin~ process proceed~ as ~ollows, ~n angle bar 5 i9 -~ormed ~rom a sguare blan~ i~ the rougrhing stand~ o~ a rolli~; mill, whereupon th~ angle bar 5 of the blank is sub-jected ta deforma-tion in rolls 6 (~ig. 23 o~ the Pinishin~
~-tand along wi~h a -~ormer 7 whick has a ~ross-~ectional shape o~ a trian~ular ~et ~quaxe withi~ the zone of plas-tic worki~g~ As a xesult~ a depre~sion is ea~a~lished in -the angle bar 5 ~ the blank at -the place o~ co~-tact o~ the former 7 and t~e a~gle bar 5, the shape of sai-l depression depending upon the confi~uration of the former 7 and the character of de~ormation sustained b~ the angle baI~ 5 in the cour~e of plastic workingO Whenever it is necessary to produce the rolled section o~ -t~e same size but wi-th a smaller depression~ a standard rolled sec-tio~ is to be formed in the ~oughing stands of ~he rolling mill, while an a~gle bar 9 with a depression less in siza ~ tha~ shown in ~ig~ 2 can be produced in the -fini~hing ætand usi~g the same ~' - .
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rolls but substituti~g the ~ormer 7 b,~ a -former 8 (Fig, ~3 of the same size but havlng smaller cross-sec-~io~al area.
~ ow let u~ consider an embodi~en-t o~ -the method which provides for a posi-tively fixed -former occurring -to be ~ery ef~ecti~e in the case of blank -forming in coldroll ~orming mill~.
In such a case a blank 13 is ~ed into the ~one OI plastic working es-tabli~hed by a shaped roll 10 (~ig. 43, a plain xoll 11 and a ~ormer 12 w~ich has a ¢ross-~ectional shape permanent as for length9 such as~ say~ a trapezium7 and is posi-tively ~'ixed in place ou-tside the zone of plastic workin~.
A~ the initial stage o-f t~e rolling process the ~lank 13 con-tacts -the roll 10 and ~e top portion of -the former 12.
As the blank 13 passes through -the zone o~ plastic working i-t assumes t~e shape depending upon ~h~t o~ -the rolls 10/ ll and the former 12.
I~ cases where the ~ormer has a relati~ely small heigh~
(thickneæ~), i.e.; blank bitin~ co~di-tions are not a res-tric-ti~g ~ctor~ or where the blank is positi~ely ~ed~ as well a~
in case of roll-~ormed sections, ~ ~ormer 14 (Fig~ 5) is brou~ht in-to roll~ 15 be~ore ~eeding a blank 16 -to the zone of plastic working, bi-ting occurring in this case due to pulling~in friction ~orce~ developed by the bo-t-tom roll 15 '~he ~ormer 14 is~this caæ~ posi~ively ~ixed in position on the ~ide oP entry o~ the blank 16 outside -the ~one of pla~--tic wor~i~g~

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With the ~ormer 14 (~igo 6) being rather high ~or -thick)~
i-t is put into the zone o~ plastic working de-~ined by -the rvllæ 15, after the bla~k 16 has been bî~ten by the xollæ~
i~eOg when -t~e -~ron-t e~d o~ the blanl{ 16 reac~es the plane passing -through -the axe~ ~ -the rolls 15. In thi~ case -the ~or~er 16 is acted upon by pulling-in ~riction -~orce~ develop-ed by the ro-tating upper roll 15 a~d ~he txaver~ing blanX
16; it is gui-te evide~t that the conditions ~or the former to enter axe bettex a~ compaxed to th~ case where -the -~ormer 14 is acted upon by ~rictio~ forces de~eloped by only on~
of the rolls (~ig~ 5) to pull it in the zone o~ plastic working~ In t~he fix~t case -the -form~r hei~ht ma~ be as large as 0~25 o~ the blan~ heig~t~ while in the second case, only 0~1 ther~of. Ob~iou~l~; the in-troduction o~ the ~ormer 14 in-to t~e zo~e o~ plas-tic working afte~ the ~ront end o~ th~
blank 16 has gone beyond the plane o-~ a~es o~ the rolls 15 results in metal was-tin~ as no depression is ~ormsd i~ -that portion o~ -the strip; on the o-ther hand~ i-ts putting into that zo~e befor~ the moment when the fro~t end o~ t~e strip reaches the pl~ne of the axes o~ -the rolls 15 might i~terrupt the rollin~ process as it has ~ot yet got steady. '~hus, an optimum moment ~or the ~ormer 14 to bring into the zone o~
plastic worki~g is the lapse o~ -time within which the front end ~ the woxkpiece is at a di~tance '?1'~ ~ 0.5R-sin ~ ~rom -the pla~e passing through the roll axes, where R is the roll radius~
cX i~ -the a~le o~ nipO
'l'o pro~i~e better biti~ conditio~s, o~e ma~ resor~
to a technique9 whereb~ a depressio~ 18 is -to be pre~haped a-t t~e ~ront end of a blarlk 17 (~ig. 7) before ~eeding the blank into the zone o~ plastic worki~g, ~he cross-s0c~ional shap~ o-f said depression corre~ponds ~o the shape o~ -the t'ormer 14 to be brough-t in-to -~he same zo~e7 while the depth of the depression 1~ is seleo-ted ~o be withi~ 1.01 to 1~2 ot the he.L~ o~ the ~ormer 14~ ~he ~ormer 14 is ~i2ed s-ta~ionary outside the zone o-~' pl~s-tic wo-rking, a~d its e~ecti~e portion i~ pu~ into t~e ~bove zone be~ore ~eeding the ~lank 17 with the preshaped depression 18 thereinto, As a result7 the ~ormer 14 gets sunk in the depression 18 a~d thus not inter~exing with the co~act be~ween the ~lank 17 and the rolls 15 which improves b~ conditio~s~
With the ratio ~ ~ loOl (where hl s-ta~ds Xor the dep-th o~ t~e deprossion and ~ denotes t~e thicknes~ o~ the ~ormer), t~e ~ip o~ the blank i5 hindered, thoug~ -to a less e~tent as compared to the case where no depre~ion i~
provided in the blank~ ~he value o~ the ratio ~ equal -to 1.2 may be regarded as a limiti~g ~ne, inasmuch as the a~o~e-stated respective depth a~d thickness are required and prove to be gui-te enuu~h -to pro~ide s-table biting o~ the blank 17 i~ cas~ o~ rolling shaped sections ha~ing the dc~etail-~pe dspres~ion. Further increas0 in -the respecti~e depth and `` ~ 20 -~37~35~

thickness as stated above exercise no influence up~n the character of biting of -the blank 17 but involves higher power consumption for shaping the depression 18.
The depression 18 at the front end of the blank 17 may be defined, say, as follows. A two-high stand is to be incor-porated into the rolling mill line, whose bottom roll (Fig~ 8) is plain, and a top roll 20 has a càm 21 shaped so as to suit the shape of the depression 18 (Fig. 7) to be established at the front end of the blank 17.
.30 The drive of the rolls 19 and 20 (Fig~ 8~ is turned on from a photocell 22 located close to the roll 20, as soon as the front end of the blank 17 approaches said rollO After the shaped cam 21 has passed the zone of plastic working, an indent is left at the front end of the blank 17 by the shaped cam 21. Then the rotary-motion drive of the rolls 19 and 20 is turned on and the blank 17 is passed between the .rolls 19 and 20 without being further deformed.
In cases where the depression in the blank is diffi-cult or impossible to obtain at a single pass with the use of an intricately shaped former, or the former thickness fails to satisfy the biting conditions, a blank 25 and a former 26 are to be subjected to a joint deformation in the leader pass established by rolls 23 and 24 (Fig. 9). The former 26 may be shaped as, say, a rectangle with its vacant end :>5 fixed stationary outside the zone of plastic working~ The `i ~21-.. . . ,. :. , .. _ .. ... . .. ... .

':

^ ~
~37~SEi cross-sectional area o~ -the former 2~ mus-t be less than that of t~e depression to ~e shaped on a :~inishe~ xolled stock, e joi~t de~ormation o~ the blank 25 and the ~or~er ~6 in t~e rolls 23 ~d 24 resul~s in a longi-tudinal depres-sio~ made in the blank 25, the depth of said depression being equal to ~he heigh t o~ -the formex 26, while it~ wi~th and sha~e depe~d upon the condi-tions o~ plas-tic working. There-upon tbe same blank ~5 (Fig. 103 is subaected to -~ur~her deforma-tion between the rolls 23 and 24 o~ a ~inishing pass, having preliminarily changed the roll opening. ~he~ subjec-tin~
the blank 25 along with a ~ormer 27 whic~ ha~ a -~rapezium shaped cross section, one obtains a taperea rolled section provided on one side thereo~ wi-th a dove-tail-shaped depression.
~ he herein-disclosed method is rendered much more versatile if the former is imparted at l~ast one o~ tha ~ur degree~ o~
~reedom in -t~e course o~ rollingg viæ~ 7 reciprocating mo-tion l~gthwise the axis o~ plas-tic working or ~uaxel~ acros.s said axis9 rotation round t~e former lo~gitudinal a~is, or up~and-down mo-tion in a plane passing tbrough the :Eormer longitudinal axis. In such a case -tha ~acarlt end o-~ the ~ormer is broug~t outside the zone o~ plas-tic worki~g wi-th a possibi-lity o~ bei~ positively imparted one of the ~ a~oreme~-tioned degrees of freedom, or arl~ combina-tion -t~ereo~.
'r~us, w~e~ever it i5 necessary -to pxoduce regularl,~
variable-shaped sections ~eaturin~ the variabl~ depth o.
( ' depression len~thwis0 -the blank7 one rnust locate -the e~f'ective portion o.~ a ~ormer 29 in -the zone o-.~ plastic working con-~ined between roll~ 28 (~ig. 11), -the a~ovesaid ~ormer ef~è.c-tive portion bein~ rig~tan~led in cross sec-tion and ha~ing di~:~'erent heigh-~ lengt~lwise t~e ~ormer 29. rrhe loose e~d o~ the former ~9 is brougt~t outside the ~one o:~ plastic worki~g with a po~sibilit~ of reciprocatiDg alo~g -the a~is o~ plas~ic workin~. A depression ~1 is shaped ~n a blank 30 in the course o~ plas-~ic working. While moving the former 297 o~e ca~ i~troduce ~ariable-length seg~e~t~ 4f the ~ormer effec tive portion in-to the ~one of' plastic working; foras-much a~ the dep-th o~ the depressio~ 31 in -the blank 30 is the function o* the heigh-t of t-h-e ~ormer ~9, one can obtain ~he depression 31 in -the blank 30 variable in depth as ~or len~th t~ereo~ Thus~ -to obtain a reguired bla~k of an~
le~; th, f ea~uring variable cross-sec-tio~al area7 one must approp~ia*el~ select -the pæameters o~ reciprocating motion the ~ormer 29 is to per~orm., W~en there is n~ ~eed i~ t~e ~a~iable-shaped rolled se~-~ 0 ~rtions b~ a section with a consta~-t position o~ the depress-ion and an invariable ~ross-sectio~l a~ea as for le~th -thereof ~ the ~ormex is expedien-t to reciprocate the ~xis o~ plastic ~orking i~ this case as well, no-~wi-th~
standing a permanent cro~s-sectiona area o~Ithe ~ormer ~or i-ts len~t~. Reciprocatin~ ms-tio~ o~ a constant-area ~ormer ' , ';' ~' , ~.,, , , '' ' lq~ s~

contributes to a prolonged ser~ice lif'e thereof due to regular cooli~g o-~ its portion~ heate~ in the zone o-~plastic working and by virtue of greater len~th of t1ne for-mer e~ecti~e portionsO
It becomes necessary i~ some cases to produce varia~le cross-section shaped rolled stock within a broad range o~
~ariation o~ the position o~ depression as -for the blarlk length. Such being t~e case, the ~or~er interposed be-tween one o~ the rolls a~-the blank, is iE~par~ed reciproc~ti~g motion squarely across the axis o~ plas-tic working con-cur~entl~ with traElslationaJ rno~ion o-~ -1he b].ank o~er the abovesaid zone. ~ blank 32 (~ig. 123 is ~ed into the rolls 289 a ~ormer 33 being pu-t i~ between one o~ the rolls 28 b~ro,~ t ;r,t~
and the blank 32. Then the blank 32 is ~i~6~ n t~e rolls 28 for a preset amount o~ reduction, and a depression 34 is e~tablished in the top portion thereo~. As -the ~ormer 33 is re¢-~-an~ular in cross-section ~o t~e depression 34 will assume ~he same shape~ ~he rolling speed o-~ blank 32 is determined by the rotatio~al speed of the rolls 28. ~he vacant end ~*
the ~or~er 33 is brough-t outside the zone o~ plas-tic working so as -to be free to reciprocate squarely across -the a~is ~
plastic working. Positi~e reciproca-tio~ o-~ the ~ormer 33 in ~the aforesaid direction causes it to change it~ positio~
across the width of the blank 32. ~nce the position of the depression 34 as ~or -the width of -the blank 32 varies a~cording to -the parameters o~ mo-tion of the ~oxmer 33.

~7~

Otherwise speaking~ -the translational speed o~ -the ~ormer 33 and the :rota-tional speed of the rolls 28 de~ e unambiguously the principle o:f var~ t~e position o~ the depre~;sion ~4 ac-ross the width o~ the blan~ 32~ It i~ worth noting t~a~ more than one ~ormer may occur in the zo~e o~ plas-tic worki~g a~
a time" ~e motion o~ each former beirlg governed by i-ts particular principle.
Xt ~s not in~requen-tly t~a-t use i~ made in mechanical-engineeri~g prac~ice of blanks ~eaturing a screw threaded passage o~ the sur~ace -thereo~ he section~ of such type can bo produced as :~0119wg: a blank 36 is rolled betwe~n rolls 35 (~i~. 13) of a finishi~g roll ~tand, thus a-ttain-ing the reguired overall dimenslon~ OI a Iini~hed rolled ~ection~ A -former 37 is placed i~ th~ z~ne o~ pla~tic wor~-i~g along the axis ther30~" '.rhe former 37 ~as rou~d cross section and i~ provided with ~lical pro~jec-~ions l'a" ~n its e~fective portion, said projections makiDg up an angle with the ~xis of the forlQer 37~ e ~aean-t end ~f the former 37 is r~-ta~ed round its longitudinal axis in the course of plastic worki~g OI the blan'~ 36. ~his results in that a depression 38 is ~aped oll the blank 36, the ~ur~ace of said depres~ion 38 ca:rryi~g a screw t;hread t~at follo~,vs the pitch and ~hape OI the helical forming projectios l'a" provided on-the for-mer 370 -- ~5 ~
' ' s~

Sometimes necessit~ arises for extr~-compleY~ shape;l rolled sections which are variable as -~or shape bo-th le~-th-wise and crosswiss. ~l'o produce these the ~o~ner is i~pax-ted two degrees of ~reedom at a time, viz., reci.procating ~otion lengthwise and crosswise -the axis o~ plastic working~
h ~ormer 39 (~ig. 143 made as a recta~gular-sec-tion rod7 is so positioned that its ef~ec-tive portion be within the zo~e o~ plastic working and-~he loose end, ou-tside said zone; the fox~ler ~9 is imparted concurrent motion both leng-t~wise and crosswise -the axis of plastic working. While rolling a ~lank 40 i~ rolls 41 the ~o~mer ~ es~ablishes q depre3sion 42 i~
the top ~ace of the blank 40, the depth o~ said d~ression 42 ~ar~in~ alo~g th~ length o~ the blank 40 due to -the ~,ac-t that the former ~9 has a rectan~ular cross section variable as ~or length and tra~erses along the axis o~ plastic working.
A-t the same -time -the for~er tra~erses across said axis~ where-by -the position o~ the depression 4Z ge-ts ~ariable across the width o~ the ~la~k 40. hll this xesults in a shaped section ]oc~tl~,~
having the depressio~ 42 o~ the sur~ace thexeo-~, the s~*~
o~ the depression 42 across the width o~ the ~lan~ 40 and i-ts depth along the leng~h o~ the blank ~0 being de~ined by the parame~ers o* motion perfo~med by the ~ormer ~9 i~ two direc--tio~s simultaneously and by its shapeO Thus~ the ran~e of rolled sections -~`ea-tu~i~g regularly v~riable ~hape is extend~d very much.

795~

All the a:~ore-discussed embodimen~s o~ -th~ metho~ oP
the present invention are featured b,y a mutual ~lippage be-twee~ the blank~ the ~omex and the rolls which in~li¢ts -~riction~l wear upon -the ~orm~r. Force~ o-f friction e~ec-tive between the ~ormer a~d t~e blank are overcome b~ vi~-tue of forces of friction e:~îec-tive be-tween the blank and the xells~ It is evident that when -the ~orces o~ ~ric-tion o~ the ~ormer agains-t the blank exoeed -tb~ ~orce~ o-f ~ric-tion o~
-the blan~ against the rolls no de~ormatio~ will be possible~
as the blank can no lo~;er be traversed tran~latio~lallg" a~d ths roll~ will slip over the s~rip being rolled. '~hus, in order -to ~acilita~e mutual ~ page o~ the ~oxmex and t~e ~trip and thereby reduce ~riction and, hence, the waar on the f ormer, the latter i~ imparted lon~itudinal oscillations in the course o~ rolling, the fre~uency o~ said oscillations ~a~ be eit~er low (~onic) or ultrasonic dependin~; upon the rolling speed. The cons-tructional arrangement o-~ the vibra-tion generator depe~ds sn -t~ freque~cy o-f oscilla~ion~
applied.
According to the aforesaid embodiment, a blank 44 a~d a ~ormer 45 are subjec-ted to pla~tic working jointly in rolls 4~ (~ig. 15). ~e rod-like ~ormer 45 i~ introduced wi~h i-ts e*fective portion into the zone of plastic worki~g, while the other (loose~ end of the former i5 he:Ld in a ~rib:ratox 46, the latter bel~g located off the zone o-f plastic ~orki~g. In . - 27 -.

~ `
~ ~7 ~ ~ ~

-the course of rolli~g the ~ormer 45 is il~par~d oscillatio~s axls leng-thwise i-~s longitu~inal ~ said o~cillations being generated b~ the ~ribrator 46 a-t a required -~xequenc~ and amplitude. When ultrasonic--~requsnc~ oscillations a-t a frequenc~ o~ 20~000 Ez and an amplitude ~rom 0.007 to 0~02 ~m ti ~ n are applied to the f'o~er the d~ Y'ac-tor is reduced by 40 per cent which re~ults in a longer ser~ice life of the formex.
If rolli~g with a former is carried out in a single s-ta~d b~ means of ~e~eral passes throu~h -~he same xoll groove, nece~si-t~ arises ~or changi~g the po~ition of the former in a vertical pla~e passin~ throug~ i-ts longitudinal axis. A
~op roll 47 (~i~. 16~ is actua~ed by -the pressure screws to assume t~e posi-tion indicated b~ a do-tted li~e~ Displacement o~ the ~op roll b~ a length ~I necessitates a ~ertical dis-placemen~ of a ~ormer 48 along ~Jith its attachme~t uni-t 49 , t~
for the same length ~H~assume -the position shown by a dotted line, neither the position o~ the ~orme~ *8 with respect -to t~e top ~oll 47 nor its orienta-tion i~ tbe ~.one o~ pla~tic working being a-~ected~ h blank 50 is reduced in roll~ 47 and 51 ~or a required amount o~ reduc-tion indica~ed by solid :Lines in Fig. 16. '~he ~orm0r L~8 located in the ~one o~ plastic working esta~lishes a depression irl the blank 5Q.
'~en the same blank 50 (shown ~y a do-tted line) leavin~ the rolls a~ter the ~irst pass, is ~ed again in-to the same ~olls 47 and 51, having preliminarily diæplaced -t~e top roll L~7 . - 28 -5~

~or a leng-th ~ ~ ~or ~inally shapi~g -the o~erall dimensio~s o~ the blank. Concurrentl~ with the -top roll ~7 -~he ~o~mer 48 complete wi~h its attac~ment unit 49 is moved in a ~er-ti.cal plane passing through -the longitudi~al axi,s ~hereof'~
Pro~ision for ~er-tical reciprocatio~s o~ t~e -Eormer enable,s one to carr~ out the rolling proce~,s in ~everal pas~es with-out an~ additional re.setting of the ~oxmer~
In a numb~r of ca~es -the vacan-t end o-f ~he ~ormer 4g is ~ located outside the zone o~ pla,s-tic worki~g above -the horizont~l axis of the roll 47, so th~t the ~ormer 48-con-tacts ~he surPace of -the roll 47 alon~ an arc ru~ning between the horizontal a~d tb.e ver~icala~es o~ ~he roll 47.
~he blank 50 i~ reduced be-twean the rolls 47 and 51. The e~fec-ti~e portion o-f the ~former 48 located in -the ~o~e o~
plastic vllorkin~ shapes a depression i~ the blank; 50, whereas -the ~ree end o~ t~e former 48 is situated outside th~ zone o~ plastic wor~i~g and is ~ixed sta-tio~ary in the a-ttachme~t unit 49. As it can be seen ~rom ~i~s. 16 the an~;ls ~, o~er which the roll 47 is rounded up ~7 the former is much larger than the angle of nip ~ 2. I~ suc~ a case -trans-~erring o~ the attachment u~it 49 of the ~ormer 48 ~rom the zone o~ e~trance o~ the bla~k 5O to the area above the top roll 47 simpli~ies -the construction and f'acilita-tes operation o:E t~e roll guide ti~gs.
'~he method described herein enables also e~-tra-complex shaped 3ections to be produced b,~ br.inging ~ nwnber o~ ~ormeræ
' : - 29 ~
: .

in-to the zone o~ plastic working a-t a -time. ~husl -~or in-stance, the forlaa-tion o-~ such a shaped sec-tio~ as ~he tabl~
o:f a millî~g machine is carried out with th~ use OI t~Lree ~ormer3 52 (~ig. 17~ d rolls 53.
A blank 54 is ente~ed in~o the zone o~ plastic worki~g established b~ t~e roLl~ 53, -the -thrae ~ormers 52 being ~Drough-t -therein~o at the same timeO r~he ef~ective portion o~ the ~or-mer 52 has a r~-shaped cross sec-tio~ he vacant end of the former 52 is ~ixed stationar~ outside the zo~e of plastic woxkiDg. IWhile the blank 54 is being de~ormed t~e ~ormers 52 are ~orced into the top face o~ the blank 54. As a resul-t~
r~-shaped depressio~s are ~ormed in -the blank 54 by vir-tue o~ trans~erse ~low of the metal thereo~.
~ o produce compleæ ~haped sections in -the zo~e o~ plas-tic working establi~hed by rolls 55 (~ig~ 18~ a blank 56 is su~-jec-ted to de~ormatio~, Iormers 5~3 and 59 being æitu~ted in the zone o~ plastic worXing co~currén~ly with the blank 560 ~`he ~ormeræ 5~ are rectangular in cross sectio~, while the -~ormer 59 ha~ a tra~ezium-shaped cross ~ection. The box pass de~ined ~y -the rolls 55 precludes trans~erse ~low o~ the metal o~ the blan~ 56. Inasmuch as the formers 58 a~d 59 are in-terposed between the rolls 55 and -the blank 56 said ~or-~ers are ~orced i~to the bulk o~ the blan~ 56, thus ~oxming the depresæio~s patter~ed a~tex~ the shape o~' th~ -~ormers 58 a~d 59.

..

`` :
.

~ ~7~

~he fo~ner~ may be arran~;ed in -the zone o~ plasti¢ work-ing both a-top and beneath th0 blank, and oll the sides tb.ere-o~ .
When rolls 60 ~ig,, 19) de~ e a~ open box pas~ -~or a blank 61 to roll in~ one can ob~ain said blank 61 pro~ided with depres~ions patterlled a~ter -the shape o:E ~ormeræ 6Z and 63 brou~;ht i~to the zone o~ plas-tic working simul-taneousl~
with t~e blank 610 ~he ~'ormexs 62 have ~ in-tricatel~ ~haped ross section and their e~ecti~e portion i~1'contac-t with tA~ same the two rolls 60 and the ~ide sur~ace o~ the blank 61 at~
time. ~he ~ormer~ 6~ are shaped cross~sectionall~ as a ~emicir-cle an~ are arranged in the zone o:E plastic ~orking in bet-ween one o:E the rolls 60 and t~e to~p and ~ottom Iace o~ the blanl~ 61. In ~he course o~ pla~tic deIormation oP the ~lar~
the former~ 62 and 63 are ~p:ressed into -the bulk OI the blar~k 61 -to leave depresæions therein, the shape of w~ich i~
~imilar to -that o:E the :Eormers~
Whe~ carrging in-to eI;~ect all the a~ore-sta-ted method~
of rolli~; the :eormers are e:g~edient to be cooled. '~o thi~
end9 a nozzle 64 is provided be~ween o~e o-~ the rolls 1 (Fig~ 13 and t~e ~orm~r 2, ~or a coolantj such a~ sil, is supplied to the ~ormer 20 ~he coolant may also be Xorce-:fed into the :Eor~er 2 (~ig~ 20~ g a hollow in-terior (653, and be let out ~hrough tb.e exit opening provided i~ the effecti~Te portion o~ the f'ormer 2.

~ 31 --~7 ~ ~ ~

I~he coolant while passi~g over -the forrner 27 reduces the temperature thereof. 'l'hus/ while regulating the rate of coolant flow one can mai~tain -the te~pera-ture o~' the forIQer 2 constant. ~loreover, the coolan-t serves as a lubrica~
between the roll 1 and -the fvrmer 2 which add~ to the ser vice durability of the latter.
Y~hen produci~g rolled sections ~eatured ~y ~ariable-in--lengt~ cross sec-tion with the use o~` a ~ormer~ neces~ity arises ~ox cha~ging the blank position relati~e to the for-mer~ ~uch a change in the posi-tion o a blank 66 (~igs 21, 22~ with respect to a former 67 due to it~ being displaced horizo~tally parallel -to the ro~l axes is e~fectea b~ virtue o~ a s~nchronous reloca-tion of e~try and exit roll fi-t-tings 68 govexned by the vaxiation o~ the cross-sectional s~ape o~ -the stxip as for the length -th~reo~ While being rolled the blank 66 is tran~latea and reduced by rolls 69, the ~rapeziu~-shaped former 67 bei~g brought into -the zone o~
plastic worki~g. ~he former 67 is forced in-to the top ~ace OI the blank 66 by virtue of reduc-tion~ thus forming the dosre-tail-s~aped depIessio~ the:rein.
In the course of the rolling process the ~o:rmer 67 is fixed sta~io~ary outside the zone of plasti~ working and is îmmovable wi-t~ respec-t to the rolls 69, whereas the bla~k 6G
is -travexsed len~;t1~Nise -the rolls 69, with the resul-t -that t~e positio~ OI ~ depres~ n in the blank 66 var:ies across -- ~2 ---the wid-th thereo~O '~ e blan~ 66 is tra~ersed len~hwise the roll~ 69 by means o~ the en-try a~d e~it roll fi1ting~ 68, whereby the pri~ciple of variation of ~he posi-tinn o~ the depressio~ in the blank 6~ obe~s -to the pri~ciple o-~ motio~
o~ t~e entrance a~d exit roll fittin~s 68.
k ~ dis~ US5 ~9 Now let us ~e~ one of'-the cons-tructior~al arrangeme~-ts carrying the method o~ -the i~e~tion in-to ef~'ect. ~rhe produc-tion process is e-~fected i~ the productio~ line f~rrealiza-tion o~ t~e me-t~od o~ producing shaped rolled ~ection~, sa~, as ~ollows, An initial strip bla~k mea~uri~g 20x4~xlO000 mm is delivered by a trans-~er-grip ~eeder 70 (Fig~ ~ into a heatin~ fur~ace 71 to be preheat~d there to a rolling tempe-rature (1200 to 1250C~, whereupo~ it is con~eyed by a roll table 72 to -the rolli~ mill.
~ he reduction ratio and the ~o~er size are selected proceedi~ rom a permissible degree of plastic wor~ing -the material to be rolled can withstand. ln the herein-considered particular case the blank features a ~ross-section o~ 14~44 mm with a ~ slot~ '~'he rolling ~xocess occurs i~ -the ~ext stand 7 similar to that in the initial stand 73~ but the degree o~
plastic working is sele¢ted to be somewhat lower ~o as to attai~ a~ adequate de~ree o~ accuracy o~ the ~inished rolled section9 whereaæ the ~ormer ha~ laxger cross section a~ com~
pared to the ~irst stand~ '~he ~inal blank cro~s section equals ~o 13x45 mm with a T-~lot.

v-7 ~

~ hen assi~ni~g the degree o-~ plas-tic worki~ -to the stands 7~ (or -to the passes, i~ the case o~' a ~ingle-~tand rolling wi-th replaci~g -the ~ormers), accoun-t may be taken o~ a ~urt~er -ther~omechanical treatme~t that ma~ become necessax~y after rolling. In such cases the degree o~ plas-tic worki~g at -the end o~ the rolli~ process ma~ be i~creased~
Upon lea~ing the last stand 73 -the ~i~ished ~olled sec-c ~
~3 tion is severed by hot sheæs 749 cooled on a ~ 75~ cut ;r~to to leng-ths by cold shears 76 and put~a pock~-t 78 by stoc~
hAndling mean~ 77. -LP necessary all routine operatîo~s ma~
also be carried out, such as hea-t treatment, dressing~ sort~
in~ cleaning, inspectio~) piling, etc.
A roll mill sta~d may have at least two rolls 79 (~igo 24) and a roll bar 80 o~ the entry side o~ the stand~
~he roll bar 80 caxries entxy roll ~i-ttings 81 driven by -two hy~raulic cylinders 82, t~e exit roll :~ittings 81 and its drl~re there~ bei~g cf the same construction. A *oxmer 83 is ~ixed station~y in a three-aa~ c~uck 84 with a possibilit~
OI ro-ta-ting rou~d its own axis~, ~he cuck 84 i5 connected to plungers 85 so as to traverse crosswise the rolling a~is complete ~herewi~hO rhe ~ormsr 83 i~ traversed lerlgt~wise the rollirlg axis ~rom a h;ydraulic cylinder 86.
~ 'he de~ice ~or brin~;ing the formers into the zone OI
plast-Lc workirlg and traversing them therein is esserltially a carria~e 87 accom~da-ti~s -the grip?er made as a chuck 84 -- ~4 --7 ~ ~ ~

r~he carriage 87 iæ tra~e~able a~o~g ~he axes o-~ the rolls 79 from the hydraulic actuator which is in ~act th0 plunger 853 w~ereas reciprocating motio~ ~o ~he ~ormex is impaxted b~ ~he h~draulic cylinder 860 q`he drive for power-assis-ted -tr~er3in~ o~ the entry and e~it roll fi-ttings 81 is~ ect the hydrau].ic cylinders 82 provided in pairs on both sides o~ -the roll~ 79 and connec-ted to a common h~draulic power ~ystem9 whereby -theîr synchronous traversing lengt~wise the axis of the rolls 79 wi~h a preser force is a-ttained.
ln t~e course o~ the rolling process t~e blank is ~ed i~t~ the exi~ roll fittin~ 81 o~ the fir~t working stand~
whersupon a com~a~d pulse is ~eli~0red to bring the ~ormer 83 into -the zone o~ plastic wor~ing; o~ce the command ha~ been.
~ul~illed b~ the traverse-actuating hydraulic cyli~der ~6, a coLtrol si.gnal is issued :~or -t~e ~ormer 8~ to be held in a de~ini-te position. Once tlle frsnt end of the -~o:rmer 83 has entered the zone o~ pla~tic working ac~cording to a preset progr~ t~e automatic control system delivers the appro-priate commands to the hydraulic cglinder~ 86 for the former 83 -to traverse le~gt~wise t~e rolling a~is and at the same time to the plu~ger 85 Ior the ~ormer 83 to tra~erse along ~he axe~ o:E the rolls 79 i~ ordeir -to provide a ~aria~le position of ~he depression across t~e width o~ the sec-tion ~eing rolled. In additio~, in keepirlg with the requixed ~ ~5 ~

l~9~d956 principle of var~i-ng -the blank cross æectional area as ~or the length thereo~ as the ~llnCtiOn of an actual xolling speed, the automatic con-trol æ~stem deli~ers command pul~eæ
-to the hydraulic c~linders 82 of -~he entr~ and exi-t roll fi-ttin~s 81, as well as to the dri~es ~or up-and~down motion of the rolls i~ a plane passing through the axes thereo-~
~ ccording to a preset program roll mil:l can operate onvarious rolli~g schedules con~rolled by an automatic s~stem~
~ay~ a control ¢omputer. Control over the driving means of all the mechanisms o~ the rolling mill is a~regated into an in-tegral control systemO
It should be e~phasized that ever~ new kind o-f xolled sec-~ion to be produced should be provided with its own program withîn the same algorithm.
It should also be noted that a ~inished product with an adequatel~ high degree of accurac~ ca~no-t be produced without inte~rati~g the control systems o~ the dri~es of all the mechanis~s stated abo~e i~to a si~gle automatic control system.
~ pplication o:~ the in~e~tion disclosed hereinbe-~ore is prac~icable at di~fere~t le~els of rolling mills~ ViZo~
be~inni~ with a mere ~ixing of a ~ormer in -t~e zone o~
pla~tic working and te~mi~ating in a ~ully au-tomated con~rol o~ the former. At the ~irst level the invention is expedie~t to be applied in the mills n~w in re~ular sex~ice which -- 3~ ~

~ ~79 p~a~ic~
in~ol~es pP~eb4~a~ no expendi-tures ~or xeco~struction.
~he highest level o-~ utiliza-tiorl o~ tha present i-~ention, iOe.~ full au-to~a-tion of' t~e process with the use of co~-~rol computers is reasona~le to be applied in the rolli~g mills now under construction.
The i~ention îs instrumen-tal in producing unlimited~
length complex~ and e~tra~complex shaped rolled sections ~rom ~errous and ~Qn~errou~ me-tals a~d alloys thereor'. ~e use of the i~en-tion enables one to substantiallg reduce -the number of the roll mill pass~s and that o~ the si~es thereo~ ~s well as the idle ~ime spent ~or rearranging -the roll~ he prime cost o~ complex shaped rolled sectiens proauced by t~e a~ore~disclosed mrthod is much lower -tha~ -those produ¢ed by any other techniques; e.gO, b~ pressing.

: -- 37 ~

Claims (25)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:-

1. A method of producing rolled sections shaped along an axis of plastic working, residing in that a blank is subjected to plastic working in a plastic working zone by being rolled and cold formed by rolls, with a former movable with respect to said blank during rolling interposed between said blank and at least one of said rolls; said former being made as a rod-like structure arranged lengthwise the axis of plastic working; said former having a vacant end which remains outside the zone of plastic working during rolling of the blank.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vacant end of said former is fixed in position outside the zone of plastic working.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the former has a longitudinal axis and wherein the vacant end of said for-mer is imparted movement in at least one of four degrees of freedom during plastic working of the blank, the four degrees of freedom including movement lengthwise the axis of plastic working, movement transverse to the axis of plastic working, rotary movement, and to-and-fro movement in a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the former.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said former is imparted reciprocating motion lengthwise the axis of plastic working.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said former is imparted reciprocating motion perpendicular to the axis of plastic working.

6. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein said former is imparted rotary motion.

7. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the former has a longitudinal axis and wherein the vacant end of said former is imparted up-and-down motion in a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of said former.

8. A method as claimed in claim 3, wherein the former is imparted oscillating motion lengthwise the axis thereof at a frequency ranging from 50 to 20,000 Hz.

9. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the former is brought into the zone of plastic working before feeding the blank thereinto.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the former is brought into the zone of plastic working after the blank has been fed thereinto.

11. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein a depression is established at the front end of the blank preparatory to feeding said blank into the zone of plastic working, the cross-sectional shape of said depression being such as to suit that of the former, while the depth of the depression is selected to be within 1.01 to 1.20 of the height of the former.

12. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein a depression is established at the front end of the blank preparatory to feeding said blank into the zone of plastic working, the cross-sectional shape of said depression being such as to suit that of the former, while the depth of the depression is selected to be within 1.01 to 1.20 of the height of the former.

13. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cross-sectional area of the former is changed at every following pass by replacing the formers.

14. A method as claimed in claim l1, wherein at least two formers differing in cross-sectional area, are brought into the zone of plastic working.

15. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said former is vigorously cooled in the course of rolling

16. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rod-like former rounds up the roll on the blank entry side over an angle exceeding the angle of nip.

17. A method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the blank is traversed parallel to the roll axes while being subjected to plastic working.

18. A production line for producing shaped roll sections, comprising: a blank feeder device, blank preheaters connected to said blank feeder device; a conveying device with one of its ends connected to the blank preheater; at least one roll mill working stand complete with rolls and entry and exit roll fittings, said working stand being connected to receive blanks from said conveying device; a rotary-motion drive for said rolls of the working stand; at least one former including a rod-like structure; a power-driven device for bringing said at least one former into a zone of blank plastic working, for traversing said former in said zone during blank plastic working, for fixing the former in position, and for imparting at least one of four degrees of freedom to the former, said power-driven device being provided before said working stand; a cutting device adapted for severing a blank delivered from said work-ing stand; and a cooler adapted to cool down blanks discharged from the cutting device.

19. A production line as claimed in claim 18, wherein said working stand includes a drive adapted for power-assisted traversing of said entry and exit roll fittings parallel to the axes of said rolls in the course of rolling, said rotary-motion drive of the rolls, said drive for bringing the former into the zone of blank plastic working and traversing said former therein, and said drive for power-assisted traversing of the entry and exit roll fittings being aggregated into an integral automatic control system.

20. A production line as claimed in claim 18, wherein the device for bringing the at least one former into the zone of plastic working and traversing same therein is made as a carriage provided with grippers to catch the former, said grippers being held in place on said carriage, whereas said carriage rests upon pivoted supports and has a hydraulic actuator for its being traversed parallel to the roll axes and a hydraulic cylinder for reciprocating the grippers.

21. A production line as claimed in claim 19, wherein the drive for power-assisted traversing of the entry and exit roll fittings comprises hydraulic cylinders provided in pairs on both sides of the rolls and connected to a common hydraulic power system for synchronously traversing parallel to the roll axes with a preset force.

22. A method of producing rolled sections shaped along an axis of plastic working comprising:
passing a blank to be plastic worked through indi-vidual spaced rolls thereby forming the blank in a plastic working zone;
interposing a former between the blank and at least one of said rollers, the blank and former being movable with respect to each other, the former being made as a rod-like structure having a longitudinal axis being arranged lengthwise the axis of plastic working, having a substantially flat sur-face engageable by one of said rolls, having a portion engageable with a blank being formed, and having a portion thereof remain-ing outside the plastic working zone during forming of the blank; and imparting movement in at least one of three direc-tions to the former during working of a blank so that the former cooperates with the rolls to form a contoured rolled section, the three directions including movement lengthwise the axis of plastic working, movement transverse to the axis of plastic working, and to-and-fro movement in a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of the former.

23. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein said former is imparted reciprocating motion lengthwise the axis of plastic working.

24. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein said former is vigorously cooled in the course of rolling.

25. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein the former has a substantially rectangular cross section positionable in the plastic working zone, the height of the rectangular cross section varying along the length of the former, the method further comprising reciprocating the former along the axis of plastic working so that the former forms a depression in a blank being rolled, the depression having a variable depth along its length.