Patent ID: 7069759

Claim:
A system for receiving a hot rolled bar product from a rolling mill, and for delivering the bar product to a cooling bed, said system comprising: shear means for subdividing the bar product into bar segments and for alternately directing the bar segments to one or the other of two downstream intermediate paths for continued travel thereon; switch means on each of said intermediate paths for alternately directing bar segments traveling thereon to one or the other of two respective downstream delivery paths for continued travel thereon to said cooling bed; and decelerating means for slowing the bar segments traveling along said delivery paths, said decelerating means comprising first and second decelerators spaced one from the other along said delivery paths, said first decelerator being operable to slow the bar segments to an intermediate speed lower than the speed at which the bar product is delivered from said rolling mill, and said second decelerator being operable to further slow the bar segments from said intermediate speed to a lower speed suitable for delivery to said cooling bed, the distance between said first and second decelerators being greater than the length of said bar segments.