US3518863A - Vertical roll arrangement and removal thereof in a universal beam mill - Google Patents

Description

y 7, 1970 .J. R. ADAIR 3,518,863

VERTICAL ROLL ARRANGEMENT AND REMOVAL THEREOF IN A UNIVERSAL BEAM MILL Filed May 27, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

P JAMES R.AOA/R July 7, 1970 R. ADA|R 3,518,863

VERTICAL ROLL ARRANGEMENT AND REMOVAL THEREOF IN A UNIVERSAL BEAM MILL Filed May 27, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I NVE N TOR. J JAMES ADA/x ATTORA/EV.

United States Patent 0 T 3,518,863 VERTICAL ROLL ARRANGEMENT AND REMOVAL THEREOF IN A UNIVERSAL BEAM MILL James Richard Adair, Pittsburgh, Pa. assignor to United Engineering and Foundry Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed May 27, 1968, Ser. No. 732,229 Int. Cl. B21b 31/10 US. Cl. 72-239 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The disclosure of this invention relates to a universal wide flange beam mill and, more particularly, to the vertical roll arrangements of such a mill and a system for quickly removing the vertical rolls from the mill. In the disclosure the vertical roll assemblies are received in upright, spaced-apart housings so formed that in the region of the pass line there is provided, at least on one side between the housing, an opening. The housings are provided with recesses for receiving one of the vertical roll assemblies, the recesses being of a relatively shallow depth such that the rolls themselves fall outside the recesses. The housings are separated sufficiently to allow one roll assembly to be moved toward the center of the mill entirely out of its recess without interference by the other roll assembly. The roll assemblies include bearing chocks having inner rigid portions constructed to resist deflection of the bearing chocks due to the rolling load. The rolls are actually removed and replaced once they have been advanced into the region of the mill opening by a porter bar that is conveyed to and from the mill by the agency of the mill table.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTS OF INVENTION The present invention has two primary objects; the first being to provide a mill construction with reference to that portion thereof that houses the vertical rolls which is considerably more rigid than conventional mill construction. In conventional mills it is customary to provide large sections and yokes that extend outward from each of the upright housings which are provided with openings such that the vertical roll assemblies can be moved away from the center of the mill to clear the housings from which position they can be lifted up through the yokes. Even with the large section area that the yokes for large mills possess, they experience considerable deflection under rolling loads. The long extending yokes also require the use of very long screws that are employed to adjust the vertical rolls which adds to the deflection.

In the present invention there is provided an arrangement for considerably reducing the extended yokes of the housings and likewise for reducing the length of the screws. The mill is designed so that the vertical rolls can be withdrawn from the inside of the mill so that the yoke portion need not be extended, a distance sufiicient to allow the rolls to be removed from the outside of the mill. This allows the yoke to be considerably reduced in the dimension normal to the pass line of the mill. Still better deflection characteristics are achieved by the present invention in providing a very rigid support structure for the rolls, one aspect of which consists in providing a bearing chock having a first part which receives the roll and a second part rearwardly disposed relative to the roll which forms a very rigid backup member for the rolls. The bearing chock is received in the shallow recess of the housing such that the roll itself fails outside of the recess and only the backup member of the chock extends 3,518,863 Patented July 7, 1970 into the recess. The roll assemblies are advanced towards and away from the center of the mill and, hence, into and out of the recess by a pair of screws positioned at the extreme end of the bearing chocks in a manner to lend additional rigidity to the overall system.

The second important object of the present invention has to do with an effective and inexpensive manner of removing and replacing the vertical rolls. In prior mills of the type under consideration the rolls were removed from the outside of the mill, generally by a crane. This was found to be a very costly and time-consuming procedure. The present invention, as noted above, provides for the rolls to be removed and replaced from the inside of the mill. This is accomplished by providing a sufiicient opening between the housings of the mill so that a roll assembly can be moved to the center of the mill where it will be engaged and supported 'by a porter bar. This porter bar is carried and advanced by the mill table rollers and, in face, guided by the side guards of the table and positioned in proper position to receive a roll to be removed from the mill. After the porter bar has received a roll, it is removed from the mill by the table and a new roll is placed on the porter bar and brought to the mill.

DRAWINGS These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent when the following description is read along with the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the present invention showing, in phantom, a replacement vertical roll assembly in front of the mill being carried by the porter bar in addition to two other vertical roll assemblies shown in the mill; and

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the upper portion of the mill shown in FIG. 1, taken at lines II-II thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the above figures, it will be appreciated that many of the well-known mill elements, while shown, need not be described, while it has not been deemed necessary to show others. In FIG. 1 there is illustrated a pair of opposed upright housings 10 and 11 of a universal wide flange beam mill. Each housing is provided with vertical windows, one of which is identified as 12, in FIG. 2 and which receive the bearing chocks 13 and 14 of the horizontal rolls 15 and 16. In the usual manner the housings are provided with vertical rolls 17 and 18. Since the invention relates particularly to that part of the mill that relates to the vertical rolls, particular attention will now be given to the housing design for the vertical rolls. As best shown in FIG. 1, each housing 10 and 11, includes horizontal projecting, but relatively short, U-shaped yokes or wings 21 and 22, respectively, that extend from the outside of the mill on a plane passing through the pass line of the mill. The yokes, at their interiors, have rectangularly shaped recesses 23 and 24 into which are received bearing chocks 25 and 26 of the vertical rolls 17 and 18. In the illustrated form the depth of the bearing chocks is more than twice the depth of the recesses. The front part of the vertical bearing chocks 25 and 26, it will be noted, are the portions in which the rolls are mounted; whereas, the back portion takes the form of very rigid, solid blocks. The bearing chocks themselves have the side projections that fit into guideway 28 formed in the housings 10 and 11 and which include supporting ledges 29, best seen as to the housing 10 in FIG. 1. The ledges 29, it will be observed, are actually formed in the recesses 23 and 24. It is important to note that the depth of these recesses are quite shallow in comparison with the depth of the bearing chocks. In fact, as shown in FIG. 1 with reference to the housing 11, the bearing chocks, when received in the recesses, extend a considerable distance out of the recesses such that the roll body of the vertical rolls 17 and 18 fall outside of the recesses.

Each bearing chock 25 and 26 is advanced toward the opposed housing by screws 32 spaced at the extreme ends of the bearing chocks. The placing of the screws 32 is an important consideration in the minimizing of the deflections of the housing and, hence, obtaining a very stiff housing construction. As noted in FIG. 1, with reference to the housing 11, the screws are mounted adjacent to the stiffest portions of the wing to obtain the advantage of maximum resistance against deflection. Each bearing chock 25 and 26 is held against the screws 32 by a pair of pullback cylinders 33, also carried by the housings and 11. The pairs of screws are driven by separate gear-motor units 34 in the customary manner.

As seen in FIG. 1 the bearing chock support ledges 29 have extensions 35 running towards the center of the mill. The vertical roll assemblies are adapted to be lifted off the extensions 35 in order to facilitate their removal by means of lifter assemblies. One of these assemblies is provided for each housing 10 and 11 and comprises a pair of vertical, spaced-apart displaceable rods 36 arranged in the region of the center of the mill. The lower ends of each pair of rods are connected to the end of a bell crank 37 which is rotated to raise and lower the rods by a piston cylinder assembly 38. In another form the porter bar that removes the rolls can be vertically displaceable in employing tiltable tables to engage and lift the rolls free for removal, thus eliminating the need for the lifter assemblies.

Turning now to the mill construction that enables the rapid removal and replacement of the vertical rolls 17 and 18, as noted above, the rolls are adapted to be moved alternately towards the center of the mill to a position illustrated by the roll 17 in FIG. 1, in which position they are removed from the mill. To accomplish this, at least on one side of the mill, viz., the left side in the mill arrangement shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the mill is designed to provide an opening 39 through which the old and new vertical rolls can be removed and replaced, respectively. The screws 32, of course, are not physically attached to the bearing chocks 25 and 26 so that they need not be disconnected. The piston cylinder assemblies 33 are provided with hooks so that the bearing chocks upon being raised automatically remove themselves from the piston cylinder assemblies and, upon being lowered, automatically re-engage themselves. The extensions 35 support the bearing chocks when they are advanced towards the center of the mill.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 the vertical roll assemblies are adapted to be supported by a porter bar 41 advanced towards and away from the mill by the mill roller tables 42 and, as shown in FIGURE 1, is guided during movement by the adjustable side guides 43 and 44 associated with the mill table. The table and guides are of well-known mill construction and need not be described further aside from noting the table rollers 46 are driven and through which agency the porter bar 41 is propelled towards and away from the mill. The porter bar is provided with a narrow front portion 47 which includes recesses 48 which receive feet 49 formed on the bearing chocks 25 and 26 and which prevent the bearing chocks from moving relative to the porter bar. Before the front portion 47 of the porter bar is moved between the mill housings 10 and 11 into the opening 39, one of the rolls is fully retracted into its recess 23 or 24 and the other moved completely out of its recess into the roll changing position shown in FIG. 1. The bearing chock 25, which is to be removed first, is then raised a suflicient distance by one of the lifter assemblies to allow the portion 47 of the porter bar 41 to be moved under the roll assembly and allowing the latter to be lowered onto the porter bar. The table 42 will be operated to remove the porter bar to a place where a crane will replace the Old roll assembly with a new one to be inserted into the mill by reversing the aforesaid sequence of operation.

While the porter bar 41 is designed to accommodate a number of different type mills, such as, a mill arrangement where the edger mill may or may not be removable from the mill steel line, in mills of the former type, and at considerable savings in lost time, the porter bar can be employed to pass entirely through the mill instead of having to reverse itself in the removal and replacement of the vertical rolls. In this case, the porter bar can take the form of a slab in which a new roll will be positioned at the end furthest away from the mill. The slab, thus, is free to first receive an old roll assembly at its front end after which the slab is advanced by the table to bring its other end into a position to have a new roll assembly removed from it and positioned in the mill. Following this, the table bar moves the slab out through the far side of the mill onto a delivery table. A similar process will be followed with a second slab for the removal and replacement of the other vertical roll.

In acocrdance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. A rolling mill having a cooperative pair of vertical roll assemblies,

a housing for receiving said roll assemblies,

said roll assembly having bearing chocks, including outer portions for rotatably supporting a roll and inner rigid portions constructed to resist deflection of the bearing chocks due to the rolling loads, said housings having opposed spaced-apart upright members constructed and arranged to form a central mill opening on at least one side of the mill,

said roll assemblies being supported by a different upright member and arranged relative thereto to move into said opening towards and away from said other roll assembly and said other member, recesses in each member for receiving and having surfaces for supporting and guiding a bearing chock of a roll assembly,

each recess being of a relatively shallow depth and wherein substantially the entire body of the roll falls outside of said recess.

said members being separated by a distance at least suflicient to allow one roll assembly to be moved entirely out of its recess of one member while the other roll assemly is still in the recess of the other member,

a roll adjusting means for each roll assembly for moving said roll assemblies into and out of their recesses and into said center mill opening for removal and replacement of said roll assemblies through said opening,

said adjusting means each including two rigid members carried by one of said upright members and engageable with the bearing chocks of said roll assemblies in the region adjacent the opposite ends of said inner rigid portions of said bearing chocks in a manner to minimize deflection of the members due to the rolling load, and

means for supporting said roll assemblies when in said center mill opening.

2. A rolling milling according to claim 1 wherein said means for supporting said roll assemblies comprise for each housing extensions of said guiding surfaces of said recesses that extend into said opening.

3. In a rolling mill according to claim 1 including a workpiece conveying table located at the side of the mill adjacent to said opening,

a porter bar constructed to rest on said table and to be advanced to and from said opening by said table,

said porter bar including means for carrying a roll assembly to and from the opening of said mill.

4. In a mill according to claim 1 including a lifter associated with each housing, power means for causing said lifter to engage a roll assembly when positioned in said opening for raising and lowering said roll assemblies relative to a carrying means.

5. In a rolling mill according to claim 4 wherein each lifter comprises a pair of vertically arranged, spaced-apart 6. In a rolling mill according to claim 1 wherein the depth of said recesses is less than one half of the depth of a bearing chock.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,752,804 7/1956 Kalberkamp 72-239 3,196,658 7/1965 Sieger et al 72239 3,217,526 11/1965 Wilson et a1 72-239 3,222,901 12/1965 Hill 72--239 CHARLES W. LANHAM, Primary Examiner B. I. MUSTAIKIS, Assistant Examiner

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