Patent ID: 7469566

Claim:
A roll stand comprising: a support frame; a pair of rolls carried on the frame and centered on and rotatable about respective roll axes, one of the rolls being formed with an axially throughgoing central hole; a drive shaft having a pair of ends and fittable through the hole in torque-transmitting engagement with the one roll; drive means including a rotatable coupling engageable with one end of the drive shaft for rotating same and the one roll; an entrainment element carried on the other end of the drive shaft; supports on the frame below the one roll; means for shifting the one roll between a use position closely juxtaposed with the other roll and a change position spaced away from the other roll and with the roll resting on the supports; a roll-stripping carriage shiftable at the other end of the drive shaft axially of the one roll between an inner position close to the one roll and an outer position spaced away axially from the one roll; an entrainment fitting on the carriage fittable and axially couplable with the entrainment element of the drive shaft in the change position of the one roll; actuator means for, when the entrainment fitting is engaged with the entrainment element in the change position of the one roll and the one roll is resting on the supports, shifting the carriage from the inner position into the outer position and thereby pulling the drive shaft out of the one roll and leaving the one roll resting on the supports; an end mount on the one end of the shaft and mounted permanently on the frame such that the one end can slide into and out of the end mount; another end mount mounted permanently on the other end of the shaft; bearings in both end mounts rotatably supporting the drive shaft; and a support on the carriage on which the other end mount rests in the change position of the one roll.