GB870777A - Method of and apparatus for rolling strip material - Google Patents

Abstract

870,777. Rolling. UNITED ENGINEER. ING & FOUNDRY CO. Aug. 25, 1959 [Aug. 25, 1958], No. 29009/59. Class 83 (4). In a method of rolling strip between a pair of work rolls the work rolls are supported by a pair of backing rolls to the ends of which a contour-controlling bending moment is applied to compensate for roll deflection. The working rolls 14 of a rolling mill are supported by backing rolls 16, the chocks 17 of which are slidable in windows of the housings 12, 13. The pass is adjusted by a worm 18 and screwdown 19. Contour-controlling bending moment is applied to the rolls 16 by double-acting cylinders 25, 32 having piston-rods 24 releasably attached to bearing housings 20 engaging the roll-necks outwardly of the screwdown support. Fluid is fed to the cylinders 25, 32 from a sump 33, Fig. 3, by a pump 36 through a three-way pressure-regulating check valve 42, a solenoid-operated valve 46, fourway solenoid-operated directional control valves 49, 49a and pairs of reducing valves 52, 53 and 55, 56. Valves 55 admit fluid to the piston-rod ends of the cylinders 25, 32 directly the valve 46 opens so that the supporting rolls 16 are held apart until the light beam of a photo-cell is interrupted by the strip entering the mill which initiates operation of the valves 49, 49a so that fluid is then supplied to the head ends of the cylinders 25, 32 through valves 52, 53. In the event of the strip breaking or the end of the strip reaching the mill the light beam on becoming uninterrupted initiates a reversal of action of the cylinders 25, 32 to hold the rolls apart. During rolling pressure is applied to the necks of the supporting rolls in a direction to increase the crown. In a modification the contour - controlling bending moments are applied to the roll-necks by one double-acting cylinder at each end of the rolls, the piston rod of each cylinder applying force directly to the lower supporting roll while force is applied to the upper supporting roll by rods connecting each cylinder to the appropriate neck of the upper supporting roll. The cylinders are slidable on the housing and are each balanced by a piston cylinder assembly mounted beneath the housing. In a further modification the invention is applied to a cluster mill having intermediate rolls between the working and main support rolls. The rolls may be crowned or uncrowned the deflection being used to modify the crown.