Patent ID: 6843090

Claim:
An apparatus for rolling a metal ring, comprising: metal ring supporting means having a pair of tension rollers for supporting a thin-sheet metal ring thereon and a tension roller support member on which at least one of said tension rollers is rotatably supported; rolling means having a guide roller disposed intermediate between said tension rollers, a rolling roller for gripping and rolling the metal ring between the rolling roller and said guide roller, a rolling roller support member on which said rolling roller is rotatably supported, and a rolling cylinder having a piston rod connected to said rolling roller support member for pressing said rolling roller against said metal ring through said rolling roller support member; tension applying means having a tension cylinder having a piston rod engaging said tension roller support member for applying a tension to said metal ring by displacing said least one of said tension rollers through said tension roller support member to displace said tension rollers relatively from each other when said metal ring is rolled by said rolling means; and rolling process completing means for detecting a completion of rolling of said metal ring by measuring an amount of relative displacement of said tension rollers, and inactivating said rolling means and said tension applying means; said rolling means having a first resilient member interposed between said rolling cylinder and said piston rod thereof, for moving said piston rod in a direction to release said rolling roller from pressing said metal ring when said rolling process completing means detects a completion of rolling of said metal ring and inactivates said rolling means.