Patent ID: 8403126

Claim:
In a rolling mill in which successive billet lengths of hot rolled product are formed into rings by a laying head, and the rings are transported in an overlapping pattern along a conveyor from the laying head to a reforming station where the rings are gathered into coils, a method of operating the conveyor to increase the time gap between successive billet lengths being transported along the conveyor, said method comprising: subdividing said conveyor into a first section arranged to receive the rings from said laying head, and at least one additional section leading from said first section to said reforming station, said additional section being further subdivided into separately driven modules; and while the rings of a tail end of one billet length and the rings of a front end of a successive billet length are both being transported along said additional section, advancing the rings of said tail end along some of said modules at a speed greater than the speed at which the rings of said front end are being advanced along other of said modules.