Title of Invention

ROLLING MILL FINISHING SECTION

Abstract

A single strand hot rolling mill finishing section comprising: a plurality of multi-stand prefinishing rolling units (10, 12) positioned along a first pass line segment (P1); transfer means (14) for selectively shifting said prefinishing rolling units into and out of operative positions on said first pass line segment; a multi-stand finishing rolling unit (16) and a multi-stand post finishing rolling unit (18) positioned sequentially along a second pass line segment(Pl); and switch means (26) and associated delivery guides (28, 30) for directing products from said first pass line segment to said second pass line segment either at a location (32) upstream of said finishing rolling unit, or alternatively at a location (34) between said finishing rolling unit and said post finishing rolling unit, said transfer means and said switch means and associated delivery guides being selectively operable to precede final rolling in said post finishing rolling unit with or without rolling in said finishing rolling unit and with or without rolling in one or more of said prefinishing rolling units.

Full Text

FORM 2 THE PATENTS ACT 1970 [39 OF 1970] COMPLETE SPECIFICATION [See Section 10] "ROLLING MILL FINISHING SECTION" MORGAN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, of/Belmont Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01605, U.S.A. The following specification particularly describes the nature of the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed :- CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims priority from Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/264,218 filed January 25, 2001 5 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention 10 This invention relates to continuous single strand hot rolling mills of the type producing bar and rod products, and is concerned in particular with an improved layout of the rolling equipment in the finishing section of the mill. 2. Description of the Prior Art 15 In a typical continuous hot rolling mill of the type producing bar and rod products, billets are heated in a furnace and are then rolled in roughing and intermediate sections of the mill before being directed to the mill finishing section. The finishing section does what its name suggests, namely, to finish roll products in various sizes and to prescribed tolerances. Typical mill finishing sections include one or more multi-stand rolling units with 20 associated water boxes, shears, pinch rolls, etc. Conventional arrangements of such equipment impose undue restrictions on the range of finished products that can be efficiently produced firom a selected size of feed stock supplied by the intermediate null section. D-1175 The finishing mill layout of the present invention is largely free of the such restrictions, thus providing the mill operator with the ability to efficiently roll a wide range of finished products from a selected feed stock size. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention, multi-stand rolling units are aligned on different pass line segments. At least some of the rolling units are shiftable onto and off of 10 their respective pass Ime segments, and switch mechanisms are operable in concert with the selective positioning of the shiftable rolling units to accommodate the rolling of a broad range of finished product sizes from a single feed stock. These and other features and objectives of the present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 15 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The drawing is a schematic layout of a roiling mill finishing section in accordance with 20 an exemplary and preferred embodiment of the invention. D-1175 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT The drawing schematically depicts an exemplary layout of the invention including two multi-stand pre-finishing rolling units 10, 12 arranged sequentially on a first pass line segment 5 P1. The rolling units 10, 12 are each provided, respectively, with work roll pairs Rj, Rj and R3, R4 whose roll axes are offset by 90° in a known manner to effect twist-free rolling in an oval/round pass sequence. Transfer mechanisms 14 are operable selectively to shift each rolling unit between its rolling position on the pass line segment P1, as shown by the solid lines, and an inoperative position off the pass line segment P1 as indicated by the broken lines 10 at 10' and 12'. When inoperatively positioned off line, the rolling units may be refitted with replacement rolls and guides, and otherwise serviced and/or repaired. A multi-stand finishing rolling unit 16 and a multi-stand post finishing rolling unit 18 are arranged sequentially on a second pass line segment P2leading to a laying head 20 which forms the end product into rings 22 deposited on a cooling conveyor 24. In the illustrated 15 embodiment, the rolling unit 16 includes eight successive roll pairs R5-R10 configured to effect twist-free rolling in an oval/round pass sequence, and the rolling unit 18 has four successive roll pairs R11-R14 also arranged to effect twist-free rolling in an oval/round/round/round pass sequence. The successive roll pairs R5-R10 may be selectively removed from the pass line segment 20 P1, a procedure commonly referred to as "dummying", making it possible to produce different size products out of the rolling unit 16. 10 D-1175 The rolling iinit may be of a well known type as described for example in U.S. Patent No. 5,577,405 (Shore et al.), and the rolling unit may be of the type described in U.S. Patent No. 5,325,697 (Shore et al.). The disclosures of both of these patents are herein incorporated by reference. A switch mechanism 26 is selectively operable in conjunction with associated delivery pipes 28, 30 to direct.products from the first pass line segment P1 to the second pass line segment P2 either at location 32 upstream of the rolling unit 16, or alternatively at location 34 between the rolling units 16, 18 and the post finishing block 18. By selectively operating the transfer mechanisms 14 and the switch mechanism 26, the rolling units 10, 12, 16 and 18 can be utilized in various combinations, examples of which are denominated 1-4 in Table I. TABLE I ROLLING UNITS 10 12 16 18 1. 0 0 0 X 2. X 0 0 X 3. X X 0 X 4. X X X X 15 D-1175 As shown below in Table n, this makes possible the production of multiple finished sizes from a single feed size, e.g., a round process section having a diameter of 21mm. 10 15 The above tabulation is merely exemplary of the sizes that can be produced with a layout in accordance with the present invention. In light of the foregomg, it will now be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiment while still remaining within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, instead of comprising "blocks", a term commonly understood to mean a plurality of roll stands mechanically interconnected and driven by a common drive, the rolling units 10, 12, 16, 18 may comprise groupings of separately driven roll stands. Although not shown, water boxes, pinch rolls, loopers etc. will normally be arranged along the pass line segments to accommodate rolling at different temperatures, depending on the metallurgical content of the product and its intended end use. I claim: WE CLAIM : 1. A single strand hot rolling mill finishing section comprising: a plurality of multi-stand prefinishing rolling units (10, 12) positioned along a first pass line segment (P1); transfer means (14) for selectively shifting said prefinishing rolling units into and out of operative positions on said first pass line segment; a multi-stand finishing rolling unit (16) and a multi-stand post finishing rolling unit (18) positioned sequentially along a second pass line segment(Pl); and switch means (26) and associated delivery guides (28, 30) for directing products from said first pass line segment to said second pass line segment either at a location (32) upstream of said finishing rolling unit, or alternatively at a location (34) between said finishing rolling unit and said post finishing rolling unit, said transfer means and said switch means and associated delivery guides being selectively operable to precede final rolling in said post finishing rolling unit with or without rolling in said finishing rolling unit and with or without rolling in one or more of said prefinishing rolling units. 2. The rolling mill finishing section as claimed in claim 1 wherein a pair of said prefinishing rolling units are positioned along said first pass line segment. 3. A single strand hot rolling mill finishing section comprising: multi-stand prefinishing rolling units (10, 12) arranged along a first pass line segment (Pi); transfer means (14) for selectively shifting said prefinishing rolling units onto and off of said first pass line segment; a multi-stand finishing rolling unit (16) and a multi-stand post finishing unit (18) arranged sequentially along a second pass line segment (P2); and switch means (26) operable in concert with said transfer means to accommodate rolling of products in any one of at least the following rolling unit sequences: 18 10, 18 10, 12, 18 10, 12, 16, 18. 4. A single strand hot rolling mill finishing section substantially as herein described with reference to accompanying drawings. Dated this 3rd day of January, 2002.

Documents:

2-mum-2002-cancelled page(26-10-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-cancelled pages(26-10-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-claims(amended)-(26-10-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-claims(complete)-(3-1-2002).pdf

2-mum-2002-claims(granted)-(15-11-2006).pdf

2-mum-2002-claims(granted)-(26-10-2004).doc

2-mum-2002-claims(granted)-(26-10-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-correspondence(05-04-2006).pdf

2-mum-2002-correspondence(ipo)-(19-2-2007).pdf

2-mum-2002-correspondence(ipo)-(20-01-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-description(complete)-(3-1-2002).pdf

2-mum-2002-description(granted)-(15-11-2006).pdf

2-mum-2002-drawing(26-10-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-drawing(complete)-(3-1-2002).pdf

2-mum-2002-drawing(granted)-(15-11-2006).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 1(03-01-2002).pdf

2-MUM-2002-FORM 16(16-11-2011).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 19(18-09-2003).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 2(complete)-(3-1-2002).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 2(granted)-(15-11-2006).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 2(granted)-(26-10-2004).doc

2-mum-2002-form 2(granted)-(26-10-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 2(title page)-(complete)-(3-1-2002).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 2(title page)-(granted)-(15-11-2006).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 3(02-04-2002).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 3(03-01-2002).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 3(26-10-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-form 5(03-01-2002).pdf

2-mum-2002-petittion under rule 137(26-10-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-petittion under rule 138(26-10-2004).pdf

2-mum-2002-power of authority(24-04-2002).pdf

2-mum-2002-power of authority(26-10-2004).pdf

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