Patent ID: 6988530

Claim:
An apparatus for continuously casting metal strip comprising: a pair of parallel casting rolls forming a nip between them, a metal supply system to deliver molten metal into the nip between the rolls to form a casting pool of molten metal supported on casting roll surfaces immediately above the nip, a pair of closure plates to confine the molten metal in the casting pool against outflow adjacent the ends of the nip, a roll drive mechanism to drive the casting rolls in counter-rotational directions to produce a solidified strip of metal delivered downwardly from the nip, at least one of the casting rolls mounted on a pair of moveable roll carriers that allow that roll to move toward and away from the other roll, a pair of carrier drive units acting one on each of the pair of moveable roll carriers to bias said one roll toward the other roll, a control system to control operation and capable of positioning of the carrier drive units so as to maintain a substantially constant gap in response to position sensors between the rolls sufficient to provide separation at the nip between solidified shells formed on the casting rolls during casting in response to roll eccentricities.