Patent ID: 7401485

Claim:
An apparatus for producing, coiling, and inspecting steel strip in a mill where the strip issues continuously in a travel direction from a downstream end of a rolling line and can be wound up there on a coiler, the apparatus comprising: an inspection table downstream of the rolling line with a planar support surface of the table aligned with the downstream end of the rolling line and the strip emerging therefrom, the coiler being oriented below a plane of the table support surface; means for transversely cutting the strip upstream of the coiler and downstream of the downstream end of the rolling line; means connected to the coiler and to the cutting means for normal rolling deflecting the strip downward to the coiler and reeling the strip up on the coiler; and inspection of the strip transversely cutting the strip to produce a new leading end, feeding the strip starting at the new leading end toward the table without substantial deflection, transversely cutting the strip upstream of the new leading end to form a strip sample separate from the strip emerging from the rolling line conducting the strip sample to the table and arresting and inspecting the strip sample on the table surface while deflecting the strip emerging from the line back down to the coiler to continue coiling it up.