US3526118A - Apparatus for bending the rolls of a rolling mill and like device - Google Patents

Description

J. W. O'BRIEN Sept. 1, 1970 APPARATUS FOR BENDING THE ROLLS OF A ROLLING MILL AND LIKE DEVICE Filed Nov. 22, 1966 m Ill llu \lllll A W n INVENTOR JEREMIAH w. O'BRIEN TTORNEY United States Patent 3,526,118 APPARATUS FOR BENDING THE ROLLS OF A ROLLING MILL AND LIKE DEVICE Jeremiah Wagner OBrien, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to United Engineering and Foundry Company, Pittsburgh,

Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Nov. 22, 1966, Ser. No. 596,139 Int. Cl. 1121b 13/14 US. Cl. 72-243 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to a rolling mill and, more particularly, to an improved arrangement for applying a controlled crown to one or more of the rolls of the rolling mill.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In order to meet the requirements of much closer gauge tolerances, recent mills have been provided with some form of crown control for the rolls, whereby the portions of the rolls that engage the material and thereby form the contour or shape is controlled so as to compensate for the inherent deflection of the rolls in a direction away from the material being rolled. Primarily, the shape characteristic being discussed deals with the cross-sectional dimension of the material. In addition to nonuniformity in cross-sectional thickness being caused by the deflections of the rolls, it also is caused by thermal expansion thereof.

One present form of crown control involves applying a bending moment to the ends of the rolls in a direction to deflect the roll so as to compensate for the normal deflection thereof which takes-place during rolling, The roll bending force in this arrangement has been generated by providing piston cylinder assemblies connected to the ends of the rolls, and either consist of a common cylinder assembly arranged between the opposed journals of the rolls and carried by the rolls themselves, or of individual cylinder assemblies for each roll and carried by the'housings of the mill. In each of these arrangements, at least the screw of the mill, and in the second case, the housings, also are caused to receive the reaction forces of the roll bending piston cylinder assemblies. Such an arrangement is highly objectionable since it imposes an elastic change or stretch on the mill components subjected to the reaction forces, thereby creating the need of employing stifler components and the need for additional means to compensate for the change in the longitudinal, gauge, such as automatic gauge control equipment.

. be present invention relates to an improved-mill construction wherein the crown control equipment is so constructed and arranged so as not to impose any forces on the mill housings or screws or other mill components that would contribute to elastic deformation of the mill.

More particularly, the present invention provides in a rolling mill a force exerting means for controlling the crown of one or more rolls thereof which force exerting means is completely free from the housings and mill screws. a

It is another feature of the present invention to provide in a rolling mill a longitudinally extending beam, arranged between the main roll bearings and housings, auxiliary bearings mounted outward of the main hearings on the rolls to be crown controlled, said auxiliary bearings adapted to receive piston cylinder assemblies which extend between the auxiliary bearings and the beam and upon operation impose a deflection upon the roll wherein the reaction thereof is taken solely by the beam and not by the mill or screws of the mill.

In still another form of the present invention there is provided in a rolling mill having an opposed pair of housings and including means for adjusting one of the rolls of the mill which consists of at least two rolls, said rolls having main bearings at their opposite ends, auxiliary bearings mounted outward of the main bearings, a beam arranged between the main bearings and the housings of each roll and extending between at least the auxiliary bearings thereof, each auxiliary bearing including a casing, said casings having openings into which portions of said beams extend, force exerting means mounted in each casing adapted to engage said beams and said casings and to impose upon the associated rolls through displacement of the casings a controlled deflection, and wherein said beams are designed to receive the reaction forces of said piston cylinder assemblies in a manner to free said roll adjusting means and housings of said reaction forces.

These objects and advantages, as well as others, will be more readily understood when the following specification is read in connection with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partly in section, of a 4- high rolling mill incorporating the features of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view taken of certain elements illustrated in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a partial outside end view of the upper backup roll of FIG. 1.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is provided two spaced-apart vertically arranged identical housings 10 and 11 which are connected together at their upper and lower portions by separators 12 and 13, respectively, and which are provided with identical windows 14 and 15. The windows are adapted to receive the bearing chock assemblies of a pair of Work rolls 16 and 17 and backup rolls 18 and 19. The work rolls 16 and 17 have bearing chock assemblies 21 and 22, whereas the backup rolls 18 and 19 are rotatably received in main bearing chock assemblies 23 and 24.

The rolling mill also includes the usual roll adjusting screws 25 and 26 which, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, are received in the upper portion of the housings 10 and 11 having their lower ends extending into the windows 14 and 15. The mill also includes a roll balance piston cylinder assembly 27 which is mounted in the separator 12 and extends downwardly, having hooked like members 28 which engage with the main bearing chock assemblies 23 of the upper backup roll 18 so as to positively urge the chocks of the upper backup roll 18 in a direction towards the screws 25 and 26.

Turning now more specifically to the features of the present invention, it will be observed with respect to the upper backup roll 18 that between the screws 25 and 26 and the main bearing chock assemblies 23 of the backup roll 18 there is provided a horizontally arranged beam 31, which in FIG. 2 is shown to take the form of an H. Outward of the housings 10 and 11 the beam 31 changes from H shape into a solid block, in which at its extreme opposite ends and the upper surfaces thereof, it is provided with recesses 32. At this point reference will be again made to the backup roll 18 in which connection it will be observed in FIG. 1 that outward of the main bearing chock assemblies 23 there is provided auxiilary hearing chock assemblies 33, the auxiliary bearing chock .assemblies being connected to the main bearing chock assemblies by links 35 which hold the auxiliary bearing chock assemblies against actual displacement thereof relative to the roll 18.

As shown in FIG. 3, the main bearing chock assemblies 33 include casings 36 which surround the journals of the backup roll 18 and are provided with openings 37, extending axially of the roll axis. Through the openings 37 extend the end portions of the beam 31. It will he noted in FIG. 1 that the casing is arranged to extend above the recesses 32 of the beam 31, in which connection there is provided piston cylinder assemblies 38 and 39, the cylinders of which are carried in' the recesses by the beam, whereas the pistons extend upwardly and engage the adjacent surfaces of the casings 36. In this construction upon application of pressure to the cylinders, the casings are displaced in an upward direction thereby causing the roll 18 to deflect in a direction to resist the normal defiection of the roll under the rolling loads.

A similar construction is provided for the lower backup roll 19. In this case between the housings and L1 and the main bearing chock assemblies 24 of the backup roll 19, there is provided a horizontally extending beam 41 which includes, as in the case of the upper beam-31, out ward extending portion which terminate into block-shaped end portions. The lower surfaces of the block-shaped portions of the beam 41 are provided with recesses 42 into which there are received the piston cylinder assemblies 43 and 44, the pistons of which are adapted to extend downwardly of the housings 10 and 11. The backup rolls 19 is also provided with auxiliary bearing chock assemblies 45 which are connected to the main bearing chock assemblies 24 by links 46 which prevent actual displacement of the main bearing chock assemblies 45 relative to the roll 19. The auxiliary bearing chock assemblies 45 of the lower backup roll 19 comprises, as in the case of the upper auxiliary bearing chock assemblies, casings 47 which at their lower ends are provided with openings into which extend the block-shaped end portions of the beam 41. The pistons of the piston cylinder assemblies 43 are adapted to engage the casings 47 and the reaction force is taken by the beam 41, in which on operation a bending force is imposed on the backup roll 19 in a direction to resist the normal deflections of the rolls under the rolling pressure.

It will be appreciated from the above that on the ap plication of the bending loads to the backup rolls 18 and 19 by the piston cylinder assemblies 38 and 39, 43 and 44, respectively, the reaction forces thereof are not taken by the mill screws 25 and 26 nor of the housings 10 and 11. Instead the beams 31 and 41 themselves take the reaction forces. Thus, it can be seen that each assembly of a beam, piston cylinder assemblies and casings constitute a selfcontained unitand the forces developed by the roll bending means are self-contained within the structure itself. It should also be emphasized that in controlling the contour or crown of the backup rolls 18 and 19 which are substantially more rigid than the limber work rolls 16 and 17, the contour of the work rolls will follow the controlled contour of the backup rolls. As a result, the pass opening between the work rolls 16 and 17 which control the contour of the strip can be controlled.

While the present invention has been explained with respect to a rolling mill and, particularly, a 4-high rolling mill, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention can be equally utilized in other forms of rolling mills, say for example, a 2-high mill, and in other forms of processing apparatuses, such as, paper and rubber calenders.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

What is claimed is:

1. In a rolling mill comprising a pair of housings,

a window in each of said housings for receiving a pair of rolls,

main bearings mounted on the ends of said rolls received in said windows and supported by said housings,

means carried by said housings for adjusting one of said rolls in said windows,

auxiliary bearings mounted on the ends of at least one ofthe said rolls outward of said main bearings, each of said auxiliary bearings including a casing,

said casings having openings,

a longitudinal extending beam arranged in said windows extending parallel to the axes of said rolls arranged between said main bearings of one of said rolls and said housings and having extensions at its opposite ends that pass into said openings of said casings, and

separate force generating means carried by the extensions of said beam adapted to apply a force to the auxiliary bearings, the construction being such that upon operation of saidforce generating means bending moments are created in said one roll which cause said roll to deflect and its effective crowns varied, the reaction forces being taken solely by said beam and not transferred to the housings.

2. In a rolling mill according to claim 1 including a beam for each roll, wherein said roll adjusting means is adapted to move one of said beams in said window with said one roll, and

auxiliary bearings are mounted on the ends of both rolls.

3. In a rolling mill according to claim 2, wherein said rolls form a roll gap,

said auxiliary bearings having openings in the side thereof opposite the roll gap into which said beams extend,

said force generating means carried by said beams and arranged to engage said auxiliary bearings to displace them in a direction away from the roll gap.

4. In a rolling mill according to claim 2, including a backup roll for each roll,

main bearings mounted on said backup rolls inward of the ends and supported by said housing,

said auxiliary bearings mounted on the outer ends of said backup rolls, and said beams arranged between said main bearings and said housing.

5. In a rolling mill according to claim 2,

in which adjustable screws are mounted in said housing for adjusting one of said rolls,

said beam associated with said adjustable roll having a portion interposed between and contacted by said main bearings and said screws.

6. In a rolling mill according to claim 2,

in which said auxiliary bearings comprise integral casrngs,

an opening in each casing onto which one of the ends of the beams extend,

said force generating means comprising piston cylinder assemblies,

recesses in said beams for receiving said piston cylinder assemblies, the construction being such that the piston cylinder assemblies are arranged between said beams and said casings of said auxiliary bearings.

7. In a rolling mill according to claim 2,

including means for pivotally securing said auxiliary bearings to the adjacent main bearings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 381,746 4/1888 Wright 72243 2,897,538 8/1959 Shapiro et a1. 72245 3,364,715 1/ 196 8 OBrien 72241 3,373,588 3/1968 Stone 72237 3,442,109 5/1969 Diolot 72240 LOWELL A. LARSON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 72237

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