Patent ID: 8250894

Claim:
A release mechanism for use in a leveling apparatus that performs a leveling process on a work object that is wound in a coil configuration as a result of the work object being passed between at least one front side work roll that is in contact with a front side surface of the work object and at least one back side work roll that is in contact with a back side surface of the work object and has a rotation axis offset with respect to the work feeding direction from a rotation axis of said front side work roll, and said work object being continuously supplied to a press machine after passing said leveling apparatus, the release mechanism comprising: electric motors arranged side by side along the work feeding direction and configured to be controlled independently from each other; a plurality of conversion devices provided for each of said electric motors respectively and configured to convert respective rotational movement of the respective electric motors in forward and reverse directions into respective back and forth movement of a plurality of output members corresponding to said respective electric motors; and a control device configured to control switching, in each press work, between a work clamp state that allows performance of said leveling process and a release state that releases the work from said clamp state by displacing at least one of a front side work roll support member that supports said front side work roll and a back side work roll support member that supports said back side work roll relative to the other to change a distance between said front side work roll and said back side work roll, by utilizing the respective back and forth movement of the respective output members output respectively by said plurality of conversion devices, wherein the control device controls the switching while the work object is continuously supplied to the press machine, passing through the leveling apparatus, and wherein at least one of said front side work roll support member and said back side work roll support member is connected to the respective output members.