Patent ID: 7104101

Claim:
A roll stand comprising: (a) a pair of work rolls for rolling a metal strip; (b) back up rolls allocated to and providing lateral support for the work rolls; (c) support beams each of which supports one of the back up rolls; (d) a plurality of force generation devices arranged along said back up rolls, said force generation devices acting on said support beams, each of said force generation devices being individually adjustable in such way as to provide an adjustable whipping of its respective back up roll and work roll via its support beam, wherein said back up rolls, said support beams and said plurality of force generation devices are aligned with each other so as to exert forces on said work rolls in line with said force generation devices; (e) a chock with support or intermediate rolls, said chock being slidable into and out of the roll stand along a longitudinal direction of said chock, each support or intermediate roll being associated with and supporting one of said work rolls along a direction which is essentially perpendicular to a movement direction of a metal strip passing through the roll stand; (f) said force generation devices positioning said back up rolls from an idle position in which said back up rolls are located outside a region where the chock moves during slide-in or withdrawal, to an operating position in which the back up rolls press against the work rolls.