Patent GB-1392963-A (GB)
Title: Rolling mills
IPC: B21B31/10
Filed: 1972-07-03
Abstract: 1392963 Rolling mills BLAW-KNOX FOUNDRY & MILL MACHINERY Inc 3 July 1972 [1 July 1971] 31104/72 Heading B3M Apparatus for changing the work rolls 10 and 12 (Fig. 2) of a rolling mill stand includes a wheeled supporting carriage 40 which is movable along rails 50 in the stand and is normally located within the stand, the carriage having projections which are able to support each of the chocks of the rolls. The carriage has upright supports 42 and 44 joined by beams 46, the supports normally being located (Fig. 7) between the chocks of upper and lower backing rolls 20 and 22. To remove the work rolls, the rails 50 are lifted at each end by fingers 66 and 76 until they contact the wheels 52 of the carriage. Small projections on the supports 42 and 44 are simultaneously raised until they contact bearing liners (Fig. 8, not shown) of the chocks 14 and 16, thereby raising the chocks in a spacedapart condition. Before the rails are raised, the upper backing roll chocks 24 are lifted in order to provide clearance. At this stage the rails 50 are level with a platform 160, enabling the carriage to be drawn out of the stand on to the platform. A ram 140 and hook 156, which are located beneath a liftable floor plate 142, perform this function. The carriage 40 is drawn along rails 162 (Fig. 1, in plan) of the carriage 160 until its wheels rest on small turntables 160 at the intersection of the rails 162 and further rails 164. A second carriage 40<SP>1</SP> is located beside the platform 160 on the rails 164, the carriage carrying replacement rolls. Having rotated the turntables 170 (and hence the wheels of the carriage 40), the two carriages are shifted by a ram 200 until the second carriage 40<SP>1</SP> is aligned with the stand. The turntables are again turned, and the carriage pushed into the stand. When the new carriage is in position, it is locked to one of the stand housings, and the rails 50 are lowered. In order to raise the upper backing chocks 24, before the rails 50 are lifted, movable spacers may be located in the chocks. In one form, Fig. 10, a spacer 84 is located in an open-sided recess 83 in each chock, the spacer being movable laterally by a ram 96 to provide extra clearance between the chock and an associated screwdown 32. In an alternative form (Fig. 12, not shown), the spacer is split into two halves, each of which is laterally slidable away from the other to leave a central recess. To remove the backing rolls, a ram 242 (Fig. 2) is used, the platform 160 first being moved out of the way. In place of the ram 140 for moving the carriages a chain and sprocket assembly (Fig. 13, not shown) may be employed, the arrangement of the coupling hook in this embodiment requiring that one of the rails 164 should be of split construction. The supports 42 and 44 of the carriage may also be modified by joining them by lateral spacers, the manner in which the wheels 52 are mounted in the carriage then being changed (Figs. 15 and 16, not shown). To maintain the upper backing roll chocks in a raised position, the chocks may have a stepped configuration which can be contacted by movable stepped abutments (Fig. 18, not shown).