Patent ID: 7316145

Claim:
A rolling mill comprising: an initial mill section configured and arranged to reheat and continuously roll billets into intermediate product at a first production rate; multiple differently configured outlet mill sections constructed and arranged to additionally roll said intermediate products into finished products that are processed into packages at second production rates that are lower than said first production rate, the forms of the packages produced by at least some of said outlet mill sections being different from the forms of packages produced by other of said outlet mill sections; accumulators interposed between each of said outlet mill sections and said initial mill section, each of said outlet mill section, each of said accumulators being configured and arranged to receive said intermediate products at said first production rate while simultaneously delivering said intermediate products to the associated outlet mill section at its respective second production rate, with the excess intermediate products resulting from the differential between said first and second production rates being stored temporarily in said accumulators; and switch means for receiving successive lengths of said intermediate products from said initial mill section and for selectively directing said intermediate products to selected outlet mill sections via their respective accumulators for processing into finished products.