Patent ID: 8028741

Claim:
Apparatus for continuously casting metal strip comprising: (a) a pair of counter-rotatable casting rolls laterally positioned to form a nip therebetween through which thin strip is cast; (b) a pair of confining side dams adjacent the ends of the casting rolls operable to confine a casting pool of molten metal supported on the casting rolls and formed on casting surfaces above the nip; (c) a metal delivery system disposed above the nip and operable to discharge molten metal to form the casting pool supported on the casting rolls; (d) side dam actuators each operable to apply cyclical axial force of a desired cycle rate to the side dams without leakage; and (e) a control system adapted to actuate at least one side dam actuator to cyclically vary the apply force of the side dam against the ends of the casting rolls during a casting campaign.