US2949147A - Roller leveler with driven backup rolls - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 16, 1960 F. K. MAUST ROLLER LEVELER WITH DRIVEN BACK-UP ROLLS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 30, 1955 (l mit aaMM HIS ATTORNEY Aug. 16, 1-960 ROLLER Filed Dec.

FIG.4.

I )ISBa F. K. MAUST LEVELER WITH DRIVEN BACKUP ROLLS FIG.2.

5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 3.

INVENTOR FREDERICK K. MAUST mbh. 4444 HIS ATTORNEY f I 0. T

Aug. 16, 1960 F. K. MAUST 2,949,147

ROLLER LEVELER WITH DRIVEN BACK-UP ROLLS Filed Dec. 30, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. IO.

INVENTOR FREDERICK K. MAUST l44c I440 HIS ATTORNEY 1950 F. K. MAUST 2,949,147

ROLLER LEVELER WITH DRIVEN BACK-UP ROLLS Filed Dec. 30, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. '5- 29 287 286 INVENTOR FREDERICK K. MAUST avg i MIMAA HIS ATTORNEY Aug. 16, 1960 F. K. MAUST 2,949,147

ROLLER LEVELER WITH DRIVEN BACK-UP ROLLS Filed Dec. 50, 1955 s Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG. l8.

FREDERICK K. MAUST HIS ATTORNEY ROLLER LEVELER WITH DRIVEN BACK- UP ROLLS Frederick K. Maust, 85-36 212th St., Queens Village 27, N.Y.

Filed Dec. '30, 1955, Ser. No. "556,677

18 Claims. (Cl. 153106) This invention relates in general to backed-up roller levelers for leveling and flattening ferrous and non-ferrous sheet and strip material, such as steel, stainless steel, copper, brass, aluminum etc. Backed-up roller levelers or so-calledfour-high levelers have two banks of straightening or work rolls between which the work material is repeatedly flexed beyond its elastic limit by subjecting it to a series of waves transverse to the pass direction. Because the elastic limit of the material must be exceeded, the bending radii of the waves must be as small as possible. Therefore, the work rolls should be of comparatively small diameter and must therefore be supported intermediate their ends by series or banks of short back-up or supporting rolls from which the name backed-up roller leveler derives. During the passage of the material through the staggered straightening roll banks, one or both banks may be deflected to correct the mill shape i.e., to stretch the short areas of the material.

Backed-up roller levelers have been of great benefit to many industries, especially rolling mills. They have, however, one considerable drawback, particularly noticeable and objectionable when leveling highly finished stock such as bright aluminum, brass, copper, polished and painted material. While very expensive and slow, such stockhad to be leveled heretofore by stretching between the jaws of hydraulic stretchers to avoid so-called streaks on top and bottom from the rolls of backed-up roller levelers. The jaw marks from the stretcher on each end of the sheet must be sheared off subsequently which makes this method of leveling still more expensive on account of the waste of stock and extra handling. For this reason, two-high levelers, i.e. levelers without backup rolls have been tried for this class of work. On such levelers, the streaking effect above described is avoided but they can not correct the mill shape of sheets and strips and therefore are not able to produce leveled stock.

The prior art shows many attempts to solve this problem of streaking in backed-up roller levelers. No satisfactory solution had been found previously, however. Backed-up rolls driven at the same circumferential'speed as the work rolls have been suggested, but the solution offered, namely, to build a gear box with interrneshing gears as part of each support roll section and then to drive the several gear boxes of the support roll sections located along the Work rolls from the work rolls is extremely expensive, and leads to noisy operation and excessive maintenance problems. In addition, and not least important, the provision of individual gear boxes seriously detracts from the space available along the work rolls and prevents the use of the greatest possible number of support sections along the work region for a given length of work roll. This inherently limits the maximum load capacity and also reduces the flexibility and versatility of the work roll deflection for correcting the mill shape of the material. 1

As pointed out before, the correcting and leveling efiect in a roller leveler depends on the bending radii to which the stock can be subjected during its passage through the States Patent required by the aircraf industry. 7

2,949,147. Patented ld,

ice

2 work rolls. Shortest possible center distances between adjacent straightening rolls have previously been accepted as unquestioned solution to obtain best results. But when leveling aluminum, forinstance, which has a modulus of elasticity of roughly one-third that'of steel, the actual wave depths or amplitudes of the corrugations to which the stock has to be subjected to get comparable results is also about three times that of steel. For maximum correction results I have found it highly beneficial totincrease the center distance between the workr'clls. For example, while a clearance between one inch diameter straightening rolls of aboutohe-sixteenth to one-eighth of an inch was previously believed best, I have found that increasing this clearance to three-eighths, or one-half inch and even more, permits deeper nesting of the upper' work rolls into the lower work rolls, thus subjecting the aluminum or other material to physically deeper waves dur-, ing its passage between the rolls with consequent highly increased correction efliciency when handlingstock with comparatively low modulus of elasticity.

The leveler shown in. this application is basically a double tilt leveler as shown and claimed in my US. Patents No. 2,132,426, issued October 11, 1938., andNoa 2,63 8,143, issued May 12, 1953. In the double tilt design, one bank of straightening rolls is divided transversely into three groups, which may be termed an.entry group? or entry wing, a middle groupv or center group, and an exit group or exit wing. p

One of the main objects of the present invention is to provide a method of, and apparatus for, leveling sheet and strip material in backed-up roller levelers without transferring streaks to the material passing therethrou'gh including improved means for-driving the supporting or back-up rolls positively at the same circumferential speed as their associated straightening or work rolls.

A further object is to provide such improved back-up roll driving means which is located outside the work roll region and which employs only flexible coupling means between flights of coaxial back-up rolls, thus minimizing the space longitudinally of the rolls required by the backup roll driving means and thereby allowing the use of a maximum proportion of the rollv length for active backup roll sections. I a

Another object is to provide simple buteftective wiper means for the drivenbackvup rolls so thatany foreign particles, such as aluminum oxide, dustor dirt, deposited on the work rolls and transferred from these to the back.- up rolls, is automatically. and continuously wiped offto keep therrolls clean. 7 i a A further object is to provide novel support roll cradles and saddles with the swivel center of the cradles in-"the center of the supporting rolls to eliminate marking of the straightening rolls due touneven supporto-f the straightening rolls and to provide at the same *time sufficient space .toinstall wipers as described above. .An-

tilting by tilting each wing around the rotational center i of a'supporting roll for the purpose of eliminating. a

previously existing restriction as to maximum possible'tilt angle which is of importance in levelers with wider roll centers in order to transform the deeper Waves or corrugations into a flat product at the exit side. 1

Stillanother object isto provide novel means for tiltting the end wings for increasing or decreasing the angle of tilt as a direct function of the tilt actuatingmeans which is important for flattening tapered material as new Still another object is to provide novel means for longitudially tilting one or both straightening roll banks to a much greater degree than heretofore possible for either gradually increasing or decreasing the roll opening from one end to the other or for concentrating preferential pressure on a short area of one edge of the material only.

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and claims, taken together with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the leveler;

Fig. '2 is a longitudinal section of the leveler taken along line II-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detailed side view of the lower support roll arrangement;

Fig. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view of the lower support roll arrangement as indicated by line IV-IV, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the auxiliary gearbox along line VV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a cross-section through the leveler along line VIVI, Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a partial front view of the upper and lower straightening roll bearing blocks, the upper and lower bearing blocks being shown spaced apart;

Fig. 8 is a partial sectional plan view through the upper front straightening roll bearing blocks along line VIII-VIH, Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a partial sectional plan view through the lower front straightening roll bearing block and attached gearbox as indicated by line IXIX, Fig. 7;

Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view through upper and lower rear straightening roll bearing blocks along line X-X, Fig. 2;

Fig. 11 is a partial sectional plan view through the upper rear straightening roll bearing blocks and attached gear-box as indicated by line Xl-XI, Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is a partial sectional plan view through the lower rear straightening roll bearing block along line XII-XII, Fig. 10;

Fig. 13 is a diagrammatic exploded view of the upper straightening and supporting rolls;

Fig. 14 is a diagrammatic exploded view of the lower straightening and supporting rolls;

Fig. 15 is an enlarged cross-section through a double universal joint which may be used for the driving connection between adjacent support rolls;

Fig. 16 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a constant velocity driving connection which may be used in- ,stead;

Fig. 17 shows a modification of the Wing tilt drive in that an electric motor replaces the manual mechanism of Fig. 6;

Fig. 18 is a partial sectional plan view showing mainly a modification of the drive for the upper supporting rolls, taken along line XVIIIXVIII, Fig. 19;

Fig. 19 is a sectional side view of the modified roll drive shown in Fig. 18, taken along line XIX-XIX, Fig. 18;

Fig. 20 is a cross-section through the common gear box along line XX-XX, Fig. 19.

Referring specially to Figs. 1, 2, and 6, the main construction members of the leveler are base 20a connected to the four uprights 21, 22, 23, 24 (Fig. 10) by bolts and keys such as 25. A cross-piece or crown 26 between left and right hand uprights 21, 22 is bolted and keyed to the latter by keys 27. A similar crown 28 is secured to the left and right hand rear uprights or housings 23, 24. A center beam 29 is fastened at its ends to crowns 26 and 28 and rotatably carries the center group of upper work or straightening rolls 30, 31, 32, 33 journaled at their respective ends in front and rear straightening roll bearing blocks 34 and 35, respectively. The region along the length of the work rolls and the supporting rolls between left and right-hand uprights or 4 housings 21, 22, and 23, 24 in which region flexing stresses are applied to the sheet material and opposing stresses are transferred through the straightening and supporting rolls to hearing structures, is defined herein as the work region.

Double tilt mechanism As viewed in Fig. 1, the left and right-hand end groups of the upper work roll bank consisting in left-hand group of work rolls 42, 43 and right-hand group of work rolls 44, 45 are journaled at their ends in respective bearing blocks 40 and 41. Bearing blocks 40, 41 have curvilinear sliding surfaces 46, 47, respectively, which are guided on machined surfaces of left and right-hand uprights or housings 21, 23 and 22, 24, respectively, as best seen in Figs. 1, 7 and 10.

Bearing blocks 40 are secured to each end of left-hand wing or wing beam 36; bearing blocks 41 are similarly secured to each end of right-hand wing or wing beam 37 (Figs. 1, 2 and 13). Left-hand wing 36 and righthand wing 37 are of identical design because the upper work rolls are symmetrically arranged around the vertical center line of the leveler as viewed in Figs. 1 and 6. Left-hand wing 36 is, therefore, a mirror image of righthand wing 37.

The weights of wing beams 36, 37 are supported in front of the leveler by pivot pins 209 (Figs. 8 and 13) and in the rear of the leveler by bushings 210 (Figs. l0, l1 and 13). Pins 209 and bushings 210 extend through respective bearing blocks 34, 35 fast to center beam 29 and respective bearing blocks 40 and 41 fast to the left and right- hand wings 36 and 37, respectively. Center beam 29 is fastened to crowns'26, 28 as already described.

Left and right-hand Wing beams 36, 37 have similar shoulder portions at their front and rear ends, as shown in Fig. 2 for the front end of right-hand wing beam 37 and in Figs. 1 and 6 for the front end of left-hand wing beam 36. The upper surfaces 38, 39 of the shoulder portions at the front and rear ends of these wing beams are of curvilinear shape (Figs. 1, 2 and 6) and rest against similar matching curvilinear surfaces on front and rear crowns 26, 28. Thus front and rear crowns 26, 28 take the upward thrust imposed on wing beams 36, 37 by the leveling process.

A plurality of supporting roll sections prevent the up per work rolls from undesirable deflection under load. As a matter of example, three such support roll sections are shown. Each of the three support roll sections on center beam 29 for backing up the center group of straightening rolls consists of five short support rolls 48, 49, 50, 51, 52 (Fig. 13) journaled at their ends in bearing blocks such as 53 (Fig. 6). The center-to-center distance between adjacent straightening rolls is considerable and the support rolls are shown larger in diameter than their work rolls which permits the application of large diameter bearings for maximum load carrying capacity and life. The'support rolls are located in staggered relation to the work rolls to give them not only vertical but also lateral support against deflection.

Between their work roll bearing blocks 40, 41, the wing beams 36, 37 each carry also three similar support roll sections such as 54, 55, 56 shown for the right hand wing 37 in Fig. 2. See also Fig. 13. Each of the three support roll sections of the left wing 36 consists of two backup or supporting rolls 57, 58; similarly, each of the three support roll sections of the right wing 37 carries two support rolls 59, 60. Bearing blocks such as 61, 62 rotatably support the ends of each pair of wing support rolls 57, 58 and 59, 60.

The wings 36 and 37 are slidably guided by curvilinear surfaces 46 and 47 on respective housings 21, 23 and 22, 24 and against cross members 26 and 28 on matching curvilinear surfaces 38 and 39, respectively, as previously described. It is emphasized that the longitudinal axes of support rolls 48 and 52 are the pivot points for the left and right hand wings 36 and 37, respectively. They are therefore the pivot centers or fulcrurns of curvilinear surfaces 38, 46 of the left hand wing and curvilinear surfaces 39, 47 of the right hand wing, respectively.

The wings are tilted by rotating handwheels 63, 64 fast to respective adjusting lead screws 65, 66. The hubs of handwheels 63, 64 bear against side plates 67, 68 which extend between housings 21, 23 and rear housings 22, 24, respectively. Lead screws 65, 66 are threaded in pivoted nuts 69, 70. Each of these nuts has trunnions 71, 72, Fig. 2, journaled in respective pillow blocks 73, 74 which areslidably guided for substantially vertical movement in shoes 75, 76 secured to the top of wing elements 36, 37, respectively. The ends of screws 65, 66 carry thrust collars 77, 78 and are journaled in bosses of center beam 29. The combination of trunnion pins 71, 72 and vertically guided pillow blocks 73, 74 make these nuts floating and prevents binding when the wings are being tilted.

Left hand wing 36 is. shown nearly at maximum upward tilt. The plane through the center lines of work rolls 42, 43 therefore forms a comparatively large angle of inclination with respect to the center group of rolls. The right hand wing 37 on the other hand is shown tilted so that work rolls 44, 45 are in the same horizontal plane as the center group of work rolls. Wings 36, 37 may be inclined with respect to the middle section 29 so that the apices of their angles of inclination are directed toward the middle section. By comparison it will be seen that pivoted nuts 69, 70 move very little in shoes 75, 76 for the extreme diflerence in tilt adjustment because screws 65, 66 are located tangent to the tilting arc. Hence, the amount of tilt of the wings is substantially in direct pro-portion to the number of turns given to screws 65, 66. This direct relation is important when flattening sheets with tapered longitudinal cross-sections as presently required in the aircraft industry. The fulcrums or pivots for each wing coincide with the longitudinal axes of the back-up rolls 48, 52 located between the inside work rolls 43, 44 of the respective wings 36, 37 and corresponding adjacent work rolls 30, 33 of the middle section 29.

To show the operator the exact tilted positions of the wings and to facilitate resetting to positions previously found most efiective, a large mill type dial 79 is provided for each of the wings 36, 37. Dials 79 are secured to the housings by suitable brackets 91. Clamping levers 92 may be employed to lock the handwheels in place after adjustment. Hands 80 on dials 79' are fast to one end of indicator stub shafts 81 which are rotatably mounted in bearing brackets 82 fastened to housings 21, 22, respectively. The other ends of shafts 81 carry chain sprockets 83 connected by chains 84 to sprockets 85 secured to shafts 86. These carry helical gears 87 in mesh with helical gears 88 on shafts 65, 66 (Fig. 6). The helical gears 88 rotate these shafts 81 concurrently with the hubs of handwheels 63, 64. Shafts 86 are suitably journaled in bearings 89 and 90.

Deflection of lower straightening rolls The lower straightening :or work rolls, generally designated as 93 are shown to form a single roll bank. The ends of these rolls are journaled in end bearing elements or front and rear bearing blocks 94, 95 which are supported throughout their length on straightening roll saddles 102, 103. Plates 100, 101 are bolted to or made integral with the ends of saddles 102, 103 and extend vertically upward therefrom. To avoid excessive stresses on the journals of the work rolls 93 when the latter are being deflected, bearing blocks 94, 9'5 and saddles 102, 103 are constructed so that the blocks may swivel on the saddles. [For this purpose, bearing blocks 94, 95 and saddles 102, 103 are provided with matching arcuate sliding surfaces 96, 97 which are concentric with. pins 98, 99 threaded in the upper ends of the plates 100, 101 and having non-threaded ends extending into aligned bores in the ends of the bearing blocks 94, as best'see'n in Fig. 9. Saddles 102, 103 are fast to yoke 104 which carries as an example three support roll sections 105, 106, 107. Each of these support or back-up roll sections con sists of a plurality of flights of support or back-up rolls 108. Each flight of three coaxial rolls is placed in staggered relation to its associated work rolls 93in a similar manner vas previously described in connection with the upper support rolls. The ends of these short and therefore stiff back-up rolls are journaled in bearing blocks 109, (Fig. 2) which in turn are secured on rocking cradles 11-1. The latter possess arcuate supporting surfaces 112 and rest on matching arcuate sur-' faces of supporting roll saddles '113. Pivot pins 118 (Fig. 6) are threaded for side adjustment in front plates 119 which are shown bolted to the left and right-hand ends of the saddles 113, as viewed in Fig. 6. These saddles and plates could be made integral but it is obvious that the demounta-ble construction shown facilitates removal of cradles 111 with their support rolls. Cradles 111 may therefore rock around pivot pins 118 to maintain equal pressure on all bearings of each support roll bank when the lower straightening rolls are deflected.

Each of the saddles 113 is vertically adjustable by means of two screws 114 whose upper ends are threaded in nuts 115 which are secured to saddles 113. The lower ends of screws 114 carry worm wheels 115a which are in mesh with worms 116 on deflection adjusting shaft 117 (Fig. 6). Each support saddle 113 is provided at its lower end with at least one thrust block 113a on each side, bearing against one or two flanges 104a of yoke 104. These thrust surfaces will help absorb the bending load on deflection screws 114 in the direction of pull in tension leveling.

Tension leveling, by the way, is the method of roller leveling coiled stock taken from a pay-01f reel on the entry side of the leveler and rewound on a reel at the exit side under tension while the stock is being flexed and corrected between the bank of work rolls. During this operation, the power drive of the leveler may drive the rolls, or the power drive of the leveler may be disengaged and the strip pulled through the leveler by the tension reel alone. In this case, the straightening and supporting rolls will be rotated by the friction of the stock passing through.

Suitable thrust shoulders 120, which form part of screws 114, rest on bosses on top of yoke 104 and lock nuts 121 keep Worm wheels 115:: located against thrust wash? ers 122. Deflection adjustment shaft .117, is mounted in suitable bearings such as 123 (Fig. 2) which are part of or are attached to yoke 104. Shaft 117 carries a keyedon pinion 124 in mesh with idler gear 125 on stud 126. Another pinion 1 27 on stud 126 is in mesh withgear 1 28 freely rotatable on shaft 117. A deflection dial 129 is secured to collar 130 which may be integral with gear 128. A locking lever 131 permits locking of deflection adjustment handwheel 13 2, fast to shaft 117, after the desired adjustments have been made. Hence, dial 129 is rotated by gear train 124, 125, 127,128 and stationary pointer 133 traveling with yoke 104 will indicate the degree of deflection of lower work rolls 93 at all times.v

I have chosen, as a matter of example, to show the leads of screws 114 as so selected that, depending'on the direction of rotation of handwheel 132, all of the sup- I port roll sections 105, 106, 107 will be displaced simultaneously suitable distances to deflect work rolls 93 into convex or concave contours. Instead of this, individually adjustable support roll sections or a combination such as shown in my pending application, Serial No. 545,045, or any other method of work roll deflection may be employed.

Screw-down adjustment .design in as muchas the mechanism for adjusting the roll opening between upper and lower work rolls is located at the bottom of the machine. The support roll sections 105, 106, 107 and the deflection mechanism for displacing these sections are all supported on yoke 104, which is pivotally supported on the upper ends of four generally vertically extending links 138, 139, one near each corner of the yoke 104. Pivot pins 134, 135 rockingly connect forks 136, which are located near each end of yoke 104 and may form part of it, to the upper ends of the links 138, 139. Pivot pins 140, 141 in turn connect the lower ends of links 138, 139 on cross-support members 142, 143. To prevent movement of yoke assembly 104b laterally, i.e. from side to side as it appears in Fig. 1, both the front and rear ends of the yoke 104 are provided with projections having surfaces 144 which slidably engage the housings or uprights 21, 22, 23 and 24. Plates 100 and 101, which are bolted to straightening roll saddles 102, 103, as previously described, are provided with projections having surfaces 1440, which also are adapted to slide on uprights 21, 22, 23 and 24, respectively, to still further assist in preventing lateral movement of yoke assembly 104b. In order to permit tilting movement of the assembly 1041;, while preventing unrestricted lateral movement from side to side as it appears in Fig. 2, the sliding surfaces 144 and 144c at the rear of the assembly are vertically guided between gibs 144a and 1441:. Alternatively, an equivalent vertical guide could be provided at the front housings, or on any other convenient stationary part. With this longitudinal roll tilt design, yoke 104 may be longitudinally tilted to any desired degree without danger of binding or other interference. Furthermore, this novel design will give freedom to tilt the lower roll bank into extreme angular positions for increasing or decreasing the roll opening between upper and lower work rolls at either left or right hand end of the work rolls. This wide adjustment possibility is of special advantage for concentrating the roll pressure on narrow edge portions of the stock.

Each of the cross-support members 142, 143 (Figs. 1, 2) is adjustable in height by two lift screws 145, 146 which are threaded in respective nuts 147, 148 secured to these cross-members. Screws 145 and 146 may be rotatably guided in base 20a by ball bearings 149. These are mounted in members 159 bolted to base 20a for convenience in assembly. The screws 145, 146 carry at their lower ends worm-Wheels numbered 150, 151 keyed thereto. Sleeve- type worms 153, 154 in mesh with wormwheels 150, 151 are carried freely rotatable on screwdown shaft 152 for front and rear end adjustments, respectively. One end of these two sleeves 153, 154 each carries the free half 155 of a clutch, such as a magnetic clutch of the Stearns type. The other halves 156 of the clutches are keyed to screw-down shaft 152. A coupling 157 connects screw-down shaft 152 to a power source, such as an electric gearhead motor 158, Fig. 2. This motor may be of the direct cun'ent adjustable speed type for automatic adjustment of the roll opening when tapered sheets are to be leveled and may be mounted on an extension 160 on rear housings 23, 24. By engaging both clutches 155, 156, the yoke assembly 104k may be raised or lowered uniformly. By engaging only one of these clutches, the yoke may be longitudinally tilted to any desired angle.

To indicate the exact position of the lower work rolls 93 in the front and rear housings, an indicator is provided (see Figs. 1 and 2), comprising pointers 223, 230, cooperating with a scale 224. A bracket 214 is fastened to the front cross-member 142. A rod 215, fast to bracket 214 and guided in bearing 216, transmits vertical movement of bracket 214 to lever 217 pivoted on one end in bearing 218, mounted on left hand housing 21. The other end of lever 217 pivotally carries rack 219 vertically guided by roller 220 and engaging a pinion 221 mounted on a sleeve 222 which also carries pointer 223 on dial 224. Sleeve 222 is freely rotatable on the front end of indicator'shaft 225 mounted in bearings 226, 227, Fig. 2. The pointer 230, which gives the position of the straightening rolls 93 in the rear housings 23, 24 is fast to shaft 225 and is actuated analogous to the other pointer by pinion 228 fast to the'rear end of indicator shaft 225, rack 229, guide roll 220, pivoted lever 231, and rod 232 guided in bearing 233. The lower end of rod 232 is connected to a bracket similar to bracket 214 previously described. The respective positions of pointers 223 and shown in Fig. 1 indicate the extent to which the lower straightening roll bank is longitudinally tilted relative to the upper work roll bank.

Deflector bars for work rolls To prevent the leading edge of a sheet or strip to wrap around the work rolls, sheet deflector bars 162 are provided as best seen in Figs. 3 and 4. While sheet deflectors per se are known in the art, they were never satisfactory because they interfered with the work rolls and their deflection. My novel deflector arrangement overcomes these previous shortcomings and permits deep waves or corrugations in the stock as well as any practical deflection of the work rolls for mill shape corrections. The new deflector design shows sufficient side clearance between them and the adjacent flanks of the work rolls so that the deflectors need never contact the work rolls. As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the deflector bars 162 are bolted or otherwise fastened to the support roll bearing blocks, such as lower bearing blocks 109, (Figs. 3, 4) or upper bearing blocks 61, 62 (Fig. 2).

It will be noted that the deflector bars 162 are secured to the lower bearing blocks such as 109, 110 in the approximate vertical center line of the respective back-up rolls (Fig. 4). Bearing blocks 109, 110 (Fig. 2) may rock with cradles 111 when the support roll sections 105, 186, and 107 are vertically displaced for deflecting the work rolls 93 to correct the mill shape of the work material. Thus the deflector bars 162 will automatically assume the correct vertical as well as angular positions with respect to the deflected work rolls. Each top and bottom support roll section has a plurality of such deflectors 162, one between each pair of adjacent work rolls. The deflector bars 162 may be of approximately the same length as the overall distance between the two bearing blocks of each support roll section, or they may extend beyond the bearing blocks and overlap the couplings 195, 1% between the bearing blocks as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 with suflicient clearance between adjacent deflector bars as not to interfere with each other when the work rolls are being deflected.

Wiper arrangement for support rolls The work rolls of levelers have the tendency to pick up metal and dirt particles from the stock being leveled and to deposit some of these on the back-up rolls which is one reason for the streaks on the surface of the stock. Additional streaking occurs on account of the slip between work rolls and back-up rolls when the back-up rolls are driven by friction from the work rolls only. These surface blemishes are specially objectionable and noticeable on brightly finished or painted stock. The prior art offers no effective and practical cure for this evil. With the positively driven back-up rolls to be described in detail later, eflicient wipers for the back-up rolls may be employed which in combination with the elimination of slip between work rolls and back-up rolls prevent the heretofore unavoidable streaking effects.

To install and service wipers conveniently, space must be provided above the upper and below the lower back-up rolls. Such space is provided for the upper support rolls by making previously described bearing blocks 61, 62 sufficiently high as shown in Figs. 2, 6. The latter figure depicts separate wipers for the wing and center groups of each supporting roll section. Each wiper may consist of two or more springs 163 guided on pins 164 9 with a base plate 165 which is lined with felt 166 or other suitable material. Springs 163 exert. pressure on feltlined base plates 165. The felt will pick up continuously and automatically from the rotating support rolls any particles which may be transferred to them by the work rolls, thus keeping both support rolls and work rolls clean.

The difiiculty is to provide the required, space below the lower support rolls without sacrificing their rocking motion around the center. Figs. 3 and 4 show the new cradle design with high support-ing roll bearing blocks 109, 110. The pivot plates 167 in front and rear carry pivot pins 118 and are provided with windows 168. Windows 168a in cover plates 119 of the support roll saddles 113 permit easy access for mounting similar wipers as described in connection with the upper support rolls. The wipers may consist of a plate 169, guide pins 170, springs 171 and base plate 172 lined with felt 173 or other suitable material. In as much as all lower support rolls are shown to form one single, uninterrupted roll bank, one such wiper extending across all support rolls of each section will suffice.

Drive of lower and upper support rolls A wiper arrangement as previously described would be helpful for keeping the support rolls clean of conventional roller levelers with idler support rolls but has there the detrimental eifect of acting like a brake on the support rolls so that their relative slip with respect to the driven work rolls becomes still more pronounced with the result that the marking eifect on the work rolls is increased.

These disadvantages are overcome by the proposed novel method of positively driving all straightening as well as support rolls as shown. Figs. 1 to 14 inclusive depict a gear arrangement for driving all lower work rolls 93 and their associated back-up rolls 108 from the front or left side of the leveler as viewed in Fig. 2. Each work roll 93 carries at its left hand end a gear 174 with a pitch diameter equal to the diameter of the work roll. Spaced in staggered relation to gears 174 and in mesh therewith are gears 175 fast to shafts 176 which are preferably in axial alignment with the longitudinal axes of the lower support rolls 108 when the latter are in their nondeflected position as shown in Fig. 2. Gears 174 and 175 are inclosed in an oiltight auxiliary gear-box 18-9 for continuous lubrication of these gears either by dipping in oil or by spraying oil continuously on these gears by means of a suitable oil pump and piping to recirculate the oil, depending on the contemplated operating speed of the leveler. To impart identical circumferential speeds to the support rolls as their work rolls, gears 175 have the same pitch diameter as the outside diameter of the support rolls.

It is again emphasized that gear box 189 is located outside the work region and hence does not occupy important and valuable space within that region. Thus the maximum possible proportion of space along the work rolls may be devoted to support roll sections and hence the number of such support roll sections may be maximized for increasing the load carrying capacity and for exerting preferential pressure on short areas of the stock to be corrected at a maximum number of points along its Width. As far as economy of design, maintenance, and gear noise are concerned, these advantages are obtained by employing only one gear train for driving the flights of all the lower supporting roll sections. While three sections have been shown by way of example, the same single gear box is, of course, capable of driving any number of such support roll sections.

It is, of course, not essential to provide pitch diameters for the gears which are equal to their respective straightening and support roll diameters. It is only essential that the ratio of the roll diameters is the same as the ratio of the pitch diameters of the gears which drive them.

Gears 174 do not mesh with each other, neither do gears 175. It will be clear that when any of the support rolls or straightening rolls are rotated, all others will be forced to rotate in unison. This holds whether the rolls are rotated by pulling a strip through the leveler or 'whether they are driven by a motor such as 177 to be described later. Any possible slip between work rolls and their associated support rolls is consequently positively eliminated. Shafts 176 are journaled in lower rookable straightening rollbearing block 94 so that perfect gear mesh is assured regardless of the contour into which the lower work rolls 93 may be deflected. The bearing necks at the ends of these lower straightening rolls or work rolls 93 are journaled in bearing blocks or end bearing elements 94 and 95, respectively. Thus the work region of the leveler is confined to the length of the straightening rolls between said end bearing elements 94, 95 located between housings 21, 22 and 23, 24, respectively; The support roll sections 105, 10 6, 107 are located along the work region of said straightening rolls intermediate said end bearing elements.

Suitable couplings 178 such as double universal joints or constant velocity joints may be used to transmit the rotation of gears on shafts 176 to the supporting rolls of support section 105 adjacent to the front housings. Other similar drive joints 179 connect the ends of supporting rolls of section 105 to those of section 106; similar drive joints 180 interconnect corresponding support rolls of sections 106 and 107. Figs. 15 and 16, to be described in detail later, show preferred arrangements of double universal joints and constant velocity joints, respectively.

Preferably one of the centrally located supporting rolls of section 107 is connected by similar drive joints 181 (see Figs. 2 and 14) to drive shaft 182 journaled in rear straightening roll bearing block 95. Shaft 182 is drivingly connected by universal joints 1'83 and 184 and drive spindle 185 to stub shaft 186 carrying gear 202 in common driving gear box 187. The latter is fast to center beam extension 188 on center beam 29. In as much as the lower yoke 104 with its work and support rolls may be raised or lowered by means of the screw-down mechanism previously described, the drive spindle 185 is slidably keyed to one end of universal joint 184 as shown in Fig.

2, in order to permit vertical movement of the bearing 95' supporting shaft 182 while the box 187 remains stationary.

The upper straightening rolls and their associated sup port rolls are driven in a similar manner. Because auxiliary gear-box 189 for the lower rolls may require considerable space, another auxiliary gear-box 190 for the upper straightening and support rolls is placed on the rear end or right hand side of the upper straightening rolls as viewed in Fig. 2. Each upper straightening roll carries at its right hand end a gear 191 meshing with a gear 192 each for driving the upper support rolls. The respective mesh arrangement, pitch diameters and location of these gears 191 and 192 is similar as described in connection with gears 174, 175. Gears 192 are fastened to shafts 193 journaled in upper rear straightening roll bearing blocks 40, 41, 35 (see Figs. 10, 11, 13) and connected to corresponding rolls of the upper support ro-ll section 56 by suitable coupling means 194 which may be similar to those described before. nection between support rolls of adjacent sections is again eifected by suitable couplings 195 and 196. Again a preferably centrally located support roll drive shaft 193 is extended and connected to shaft 200 in gear-box 187 by means of universal joints 197, 198 and drive spindle 199. A gear 201 is keyed to shaft 200 and is in mesh with gear 202 of the lower roll drive, thus completing the driving circuit.

Shaft 200 is shown to extend through therear cover of gear-box 187 and carries freely rotatable thereon belt pulley 203 and the left hand half of jaw clutch 204. The right hand half of jaw clutch 204 is slidingly keyed to shaft 200 and may be engaged or disengaged by pivoted clutchfork 205 and hand'lever 206. A belt 207 con- The driving action and con- 11 nects pulley 203 and pulley 208 on output shaft of motor 177.

By employing motor 177 as power source for rotating all straightening rolls and supporting rolls in unison, this motor may be used for threading a strip through the leveler in tension leveling or for conventional leveling of sheets. When the machine is used for tension pull-through operation, jaw clutch 204 is usually disengaged and then the friction between strip and upper and lower straightening rolls will rotate all straightening rolls and supporting rolls at identical linear speeds. The exploded, diagrammatic views shown in Figs. 13 and 14 show the straightening roll and support roll drives for the upper and lower roll banks, respectively, in clear simplified and easily understandable form.

Double tilt pivot arrangement I The end groups of straightening and supporting rolls in the left and right hand wings 36 and 37 (appearing at right and left hand sides, respectively in Fig. 6), which may also be called entry or exit wings depending on the direction of operation of the leveler, are tiltable relative to the center group of upper straightening rolls identified as 30, 31, 32, 33 on center beam 29 around the rotational axes of support rolls 48 and S2, respectively. At the front end of the leveler, a pivot pin 209, Fig. 8, whose pivot axis is in line with rotational axis of support roll 48, passes through abutting shoulders on hearing block 48 of left hand wing 36 and of central bearing block 34. In as much as the upper support rolls 48, 52 are driven at the rear of the leveler by shafts such as 193 carrying gears 192, the pivot pin construction required there is different from the pivot pin 209 at the front. As shown in Fig. 11, the shaft 193 of support roll 48 is journaled in, and extends through a bushing 210 whose outside surface serves as the pivot in a simiiar way as pin 289 previously described, thus solving the problem of having a drive shaft and pivot 1n the same axial alignment as support roll 48. The front and rear ends of right hand wing 37 are similarly pivoted, thus permitting wings 36, 37 to tilt around the axes of support rolls 48 and 52, respectively, when hand wheels 63, 64 are rotated.

Gear-box 190 encloses all gears 191 and 192 for the straightening and supporting rolls of wings 36, 37 as well as of center beam 29. Because the arrangements are identical for both wings 36, 37, only the left wing 36 will be described to cover both.

Curved slots such as 211 and 211a with pivot bushing 210 as center are provided in the wall of gear-box 190 to allow drive shafts 193 of support rolls 57, 58 to tilt (Fig. 11). Similar curvilinear slots 212, 212a are provided for necks of straightening rolls 42, 43 for the same purpose. A sealer plate 213 closely fits around the tiltable drive ends and against the wall of gear box 190 to seal it against oil seepage.

The most important advantage of this new double tilt design is that the wings may be tilted to any desired maxi mum angular inclination with the horizontal center group of rolls. Selecting the rotational axes of the respective supporting rolls (48, 52) adjoining the left and right hand wings as the pivot axes of those wings does away with any interference such as encountered at the support rolls when swinging the wings around the axes of the straightening rolls as taught in my previously mentioned U.S. Patent No. 2,132,426, for instance. The degree of tilt angle obtainable with this last mentioned design would be insuificient to flatten out the deep waves produced between the center group of rolls of the present leveler with wider spacing of the roll centers and consequent deeper nestable straightening rolls. Other advantages of this new arrangement are that the wings are now positively located by the pivot pins at all times; the latter are easily held to close tolerances, thus avoiding detrimental play between wing groups and center groups.

12 Furthermore, they are cheaper to manufacture and main tam.

Fig. 15 shows in greater detail a standard, commercially available double universal joint such as previously identified by numerals 178, 179, 180, 181 and 194, 195, 196 for the bottom and top support roll drives, respectively. These joints consist of left and right hand forks 285, 286 which are drivingly connected by the center member 287 with pins 288 and 289 placed at right angles to each other in each end of center block 287. A rubber or fabric cover 290 keeps the lubricant inside. The left hand joint half 285 is pinned to the drive neck 291 of one support roll, while the right hand half drivingly slides axially on square drive neck 292 of the adjacent support roll. A key fitted for sliding service or a spline would serve the same purpose. The universal joint has removable pins for lifting out the center 'block 287 for convenient maintenance.

Fig. '16 shows basically a Rzeppa constant velocity joint as also commercially available. The left and right hand joints 293, 294 are secured to their respective support roll drive necks 303 and 304. A drive spindle 295 is pinned to the left hand ring member 296. The square end 297 of another drive spindle 298 slidingly fits in a matching square aperture of right hand ring member 299. The two spindles 295, 298 are pinned to a sleeve 300 by pins 302. A cover 301 is again provided for retaining lubricant. To disassemble this drive connection without disturbing the leveler, the pin is removed from right hand half 294 and the coupling as a whole pushed to the left on square end 297 until its hub clears the drive neck 304.

A special point has been made to emphasize that the couplings do not rigidly connect two adjacent support rolls. The reason for the importance of this arrangement is the fact that the vert cal adjustment of the lower support roll sections should in no way be interfered with by the drive; also the freedom of the support saddles 111 to freely swivel around the pivot pins 118 must be carefully guarded.

, The decision as to whether employ double universal joints or constant velocity joints depends among other factors on the magnitude of the contemplated adjustments of each support roll section, on the arrangement and number of support sections employed, on the operating speed, surface finish of the stock to be handled and so forth.

Fig. 17 depicts a motorized double tilt adjustment instead of the manual adjustment with handwheels such as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 6 for instance. When leveling sheets with continuously tapering cross-section along their lengths, the wings must be made to automatically follow the taper for which reason the tilt screws 66 are preferably power driven by means of a variable speed motor, such as a direct current motor 305. A suitable coupling 306 connects motor shaft and screw 66. The roll deflection adjustment may also be motorized whenever required.

Figs. 18, 19, and 20 illustrate a modification for the drive of all work rolls and their support rolls from a single common gear-box located altogether away from the leveler. Corresponding parts have received the same numerals as used before with a prime mark attached so that the description does not have to be completely repeated. The common gear-box 187' is shown in a simple form for illustrative purposes but may be of any design known in the art to distribute the loads on the gears more uniformly.

in this modification no gears are employed directly on the upper and lower work rolls. They are all driven from the common gear-box 187' by drive spindles such as 235 and 236, respectively, which are connected to the ends of the work rolls by single universal joints 237, 238 and to the gear shafts in the gear-box by similar single universal joints 239, 240, respectively.

Q tari The intermediate shafts 241, 242 of all upper and lower support rolls are similarly driven by drive spindles 243, 244 and universal joints 245, 246 adjacent to the leveler proper and connected to the gear shafts by universal joints 247, 248. 'Fig. 18 shows a plan view of the upper support roll bank sections 54', 55, 56'. All flights of support rolls in adjacent sections, being in line, facilitate driving the rows of support rolls in adjacent sections, for instance, by joints 196', 195, 194, each flight of support rolls being driven from the common gear-box by one drive spindle 243.

The gear-box 187' shows one possible gear arrange ment. The drive spindles 236 of all lower work rolls are driven by gear shafts and gears 249, 250, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, and 257. The drive spindles 235 of all upper straightening rolls are driven by similar gear shafts and gears 253, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263,264, 265. Main drive shaft 200' drives directly into the center roll of lower work roll bank and carries gear 249. The gears for the upper work rolls are staggered with respect to those for the lower work rolls in a similar way as the upper Work rolls are staggered in relation to the lower work rolls. The gears of the upper work rolls do not mesh with each other, neither do those for. the lower work rolls. However, lower gear 249 meshes with upper gears 261 and 262 and these respectively with lower gears 253 and 254, and so on. Each gear for the upper work rolls meshes with a gear for driving the upper support roll banks. These have been numbered 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, and 274. Similarly, the gears for the drive of the lower straightening rolls mesh with the gears for rotating the lower support roll banks, and they have received the numbers 275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, and 284.

The modification shown in Figs. 18, 19, 20 has the advantage that the size of the gears which may be used in the gear-box 187' for driving straightening rolls as well as support rolls can be made larger in pitch diameter than in the design depicted in Figs. 1 to 14 inclusive, because the drive spindles between roll necks and gearbox can be fanned out. Thus the load carrying capacity of the gears may be increased as required.

General of driving the back-up rolls and work rolls at substantially the same circumferential speeds is not limited to double tilt levelers, but may also be utilized to the same advantage in connection with single tilt levelers or level-- ers having individuallyadjustable backed-up work rolls as frequently found in large plate levelers.

As far as the particular design shown in Figs. 1 to 14 is concerned, it is clearly not essential to use a gear-box suchas 187 for connecting the drives of upper and lower rolls to force them to rotate in unison. Gears or other means may be used directly on or adjacent to the ends of the upper and lower roll banks to interconnect both. The arrangement shown was selected for the primary reason that the lower roll bank may be vertically adjusted in wide limits without sacrificing perfect gear mesh under any operating conditions. When space permits, belts or any other suitable means may drive the support rolls individually, in groups or as a whole. The designs shown employ the work rolls or their gear-box drive to obtain identical linear speeds for work rolls and support rolls. This is not essential per se and sepparate drives for work rolls and support rolls may be provided, if necessary with suitable control means to synchronize the separate drives.

The flights of the support rolls were described to be drivingly interconnected from support roll section to support roll section by double universal or constant 'velocity jointsas an example. The upper suport rolls are non- 'adjustably mounted on wings 36, 37 and center piece 29 so that any other suitable, commercially available couplings, preferably of the flexible type for convenient assembly, may be used instead. Oldham type couplings of standard or modified design may be provided for either or both upper andlower support roll drives, or a combination of these several types of couplings and joints. The term coupling will be used in the claims to follow as including any of the types shown or described.

' In connection with the novel double tilt construction, it is immaterial how many straightening rolls and their associated support roll sections are placed in each wing 36, 37. [if desirable, one or any number of work rolls may be used; also, one wing may be provided with a ,diflFerent number of work rolls than the other wing.

I claim:

1. A roller leveler comprising rows of straightening rolls and supporting rolls, one of said rows including a center group and two end groups of straightening and supporting rolls, means to tilt each of said end groups about the longitudinal axes of the respective supporting rolls at the ends of the center group, adjustable power means for changing the tilt positions of each of said end groups, and other adjustable power means for varying the opening between said rows of straightening rolls for changing the crosswise taper of that opening for leveling sheets having tapered longitudinal cross-sections.

2. -In a roller leveler, a base, a pair of front and a pair of rear uprights, two banks of cooperating work rolls mounted in said uprights for repeatedly flexing material passed between them, a screw-down adjustment for raising, lowering and longitudinally tilting one of said work roll banks comprising a yoke, bearing blocks secured to said yoke for rotatably mounting one of said work .roll banks, screw-adjusting means located on said base between the front and rear uprights, support members operatively connected to said screw-adjusting means, pivot connections between said' yoke and said support members to cause said yoke to participate freely in any vertical displacement of said support members, guiding means for said yoke on front and rear uprights to prevent undesirable movement of said yoke normal to the axes of said work rolls, and other guiding means in one pair of said uprights to maintain said yoke against substantial movement in the direction of the longitudinal axes of the straightening rolls.

. 3. In a roller leveler, a middle section comprising a plurality of spaced parallel work rolls for engaging a sheet of workmaterial passing along one side thereof, a plurality of spaced parallel supporting rolls rotating in contact with the other sides of the work rolls, said supporting rolls being staggered with respect to the work rolls so that each work roll runs in contact with two supporting rolls, a wing section, comprising a plurality of spaced parallel work rolls and a plurality of spaced parallel supporting rolls, and means supporting said Wing section for tilting movement with respect to said middle section about the axis of the supporting roll at the end of the middle section, so that the range of tilting movement of the Wing section is not limited by the spacing nor by the diameter of the rolls.

4. In a roller leveler as defined in claim 3, a second wing section at the other end of the middle section from said wing section, and means supporting said second wing section for tilting movement about the axis of the supporting roll at said other end of the middle section.

5. In a roller leveler, a bank of parallel spaced elongated straightening rolls, adapted to engage sheet material moving transversely to said rolls, bearing means supporting said rolls, a yoke supporting said bearing means, independently operable means for raising and lowering the respective ends of the yoke corresponding to the ends of the straightening rolls, so as to tilt the bank of 'rolls transversely to the path of the sheet material, pivr to said yoke to permit independent operation of said raising and lowering means, and guide means to maintain one end of the yoke against horizontal movement.

6. In a roller leveler, two banks of straightening rolls arranged in staggered relation to each other for repeatedly flexing work material between them, each of said banks consisting of a plurality of straightening rolls, each of said straightening rolls having a bearing neck on each end, end bearing elements for rotatably supporting said straightening rolls on said bearing necks and thus confining the work region of the leveler to the length of the straightening rolls between said end bearing elements; support roll sections located along the work region of said straightening rolls intermediate said end bearing elements to prevent said straightening rolls from undesired deflection under load; a common driving gear-box away from the leveler, a first auxiliary gear-box located outside said work region of the leveler between one end of the straightening rolls and said common driving gearbox for rotating one bank of straightening rolls and their support rolls, at least one drive shaft operably connecting said common driving gear-box to said first auxiliary gear-box; a second auxiliary gear-box also outside the work region but located on the side of the leveler opposite said common driving gear-box for rotating the other bank of straightening rolls and support rolls, and at least one other drive shaft operably connecting said gommon driving gear-box to said second auxiliary gear- 7. In a roller leveler as defined in claim 6, a prime mover for driving said common driving gear-box for leveling cut-to-length sheets, and clutch means between said prime mover and said common driving gear-box to disconnect said prime mover from said common driving gear-box for pull-through operation.

8. A roller leveler as defined in claim 6, in which each support roll section comprises a plurality of short backup rolls arranged in staggered relation with respect to their associated straightening rolls, bearing blocks for journaling said back-up rolls at their ends, a cradle for mounting said bearing blocks, a saddle for supporting said cradle, said cradle and said saddle having matching curvilinear sliding surfaces to permit said cradle to swivel on said saddle, adjusting means for vertically displacing said saddle, pivot plates secured to said cradle, cover plates fastened to said saddle, said pivot plates and said cover plates forming apertures for the convenient access to said back-up rolls, pivot pins between said saddle and said cradle at the center of curvature of said curvilinear sliding surfaces, said pivot pins being located substantially in the center of said back-up rolls, deflector bars secured to said bearing blocks substantially on the vertical center lines of said back-up rolls so as to bridge the gap between adjacent straightening rolls and to move said deflector bars into the required vertical and angular positions with respect to the straightening rolls when said saddle is vertically displaced and said cradle swivels on said saddle.

9. in a roller leveler, series of upper and lower straightening rolls arranged in staggered relation to each other for repeatedly flexing work material between them, upper banks of support rolls located above and intermediate the ends of the series of upper straightening rolls to revent them from undesired deflection under load, lower banks of support rolls located below and intermediate the ends of the series of lower straightening rolls to prevent them from undesired deflection under load; a single common gear-box located away from the leveler for rotating all straightening and support rolls at substantially identical circumferential speeds, said gear-box comprising four rows of vertically spaced gear shafts, the first top row and third row of gear shafts being adapted to be rotated in one direction for driving said upper banks of support rolls and said series of lower straightening rolls, respectively; the second row and fourth 16 bottom row of gear-shafts being adapted to be rotated in opposite directions to said first and third rows for driving said series of upper straightening rolls and said lower banks of support rolls, respectively, and drive shafts connecting said gear shafts to said straightening and support rolls.

10. A roller leveler as defined in claim 9, in which banks of support rolls comprise a plurality of short backup rolls arranged in staggered relation with respect to their associated straightening rolls, bearing blocks for journaling said back-up rolls at their ends, cradles for mounting said bearing blocks, saddles for supporting said cradles, said cradles and said saddles having matching curvilinear sliding surfaces to permit said cradles to swivel on said saddles, adjusting means for vertically displacing said saddles, pivot plates secured to said cradles, cover plates fastened to said saddles, said pivot plates and said cover plates provided with windows for the convenient access to said back-up rolls, pivot pins between said saddles and said cradles at the center of curvature of said curvilinear surfaces, deflector bars secured to said bearing blocks and positioned to bridge the gap between adjacent straightening rolls so as to move said deflector bars into the required vertical and angular positions with respect to the straightening rolls when said saddles are vertically displaced and said cradles swivel on said saddles.

11. A roller leveler as defined in claim 6, in which the first and second auxiliary gear-boxes include gears fastened to the respective opposite ends of the straightening rolls.

12. In a roller leveler, two banks of work rolls arranged in staggered relation to each other for repeatedly flexing work material between them, support roll sections located along the work rolls intermediate their ends to prevent said work rolls from undesired deflection under load and for deflecting said work rolls for correcting the mill shape of the work material, said support roll sections comprising a plurality of short back-up rolls, bearing blocks for journaling said back-up rolls at their ends, cradles for mounting said bearing blocks, saddles for supporting said cradles, said cradles and said saddles having matching curvilinear sliding surfaces to permit said cradles to swivel on said saddles, adjusting means for vertically displacing said saddles, pivot plates secured to said cradles, cover plates fastened to said saddles, said pivot plates and said cover plates provided with windows for the convenient access to said back-up rolls, pivot pins between said saddles and said cradles located at the center of curvature of said curvilinear sliding surfaces, deflector bars secured to said bearing blocks and positioned to bridge the gap between adjacent work rolls so as to move said deflector bars into the required vertical and angular positions with respect to the work rolls when said saddles are vertically displaced and said cradles swivel on said saddles.

13. A backed-up roller leveler as defined in claim 12, in which thrust surfaces are provided on said support roll sections to maintain said support roll sections against deflection in the direction of leveling.

14. A roller leveler as defined in claim 7, in which all the straightening rolls of the first roll bank. extend through and outside first end bearing elements located on the side of the leveler nearest the common driving gear-box, and in which all the straightening rolls of the second roll bank extend through and outside secondend bearing elements located on the side of the leveler opposite said common driving gear-box, gears fastened to the ends of the straightening rolls of said first roll bank outside said first end bearing elements, other gears fastened to the ends of the straightening rolls of said second roll bank outside said second end bearing elements; support roll sections including pluralities of short backup rolls being spaced in alignment with respect to each other along the straightening rolls of said first and second roll banks, bearing blocks for journaling the ends of said back-up rolls, said back-up rolls extending through said bearing blocks, flexible couplings connecting said aligned back-up rolls, a plurality of stub shafts extending through said first and said second end bearing elements, corresponding in number to and aligned with the back-up rolls, flexible couplings between said stub shafts and said back-up rolls for concurrent rotation, gears on said stub shafts in mesh with said gears located outside said first and second end bearing elements and forming auxiliary gear-boxes located outside the work region of the leveler, and a driving shaft between each one of the two auxiliary gear-boxes and said common driving gearbox.

15. A roller leveler as defined in claim 7, in which one of said banks of straightening rolls and associated support roll sections include a center group and two end groups of straightening rolls and support rolls, in combination with means for tilting each of said end groups around the longitudinal axes of the respective support rolls at the ends of the center group.

16. A roller leveler as defined in claim 10, in which one of said series of straightening rolls and associated support roll banks include a center group andtwo end groups of straightening and support rolls, in combination with means for tilting each of said end groups about the longitudinal axes of the respective support rolls at the ends of the center group.

17. In a backed-up roller leveler, two banks of staggered work rolls for repeatedly flexing stock passed between them, bearing means for journaling one of said banks of work rolls at their ends, supporting rolls for said Work rolls, bearing means for sustaining said supporting rolls at their ends, a yoke assembly for carrying said work rolls and associated supporting roll bearing means, screw-down means for vertically displacing said yoke assembly and for tilting the latter in the direction of the longitudinal axes of said work rolls to vary the roll opening between said two banks of work rolls, and pivot means including pin and link means near each end of said yoke assembly for tiltably connecting said yoke assembly and said screw-down means.

18. In a backed-up roller leveler as defined in claim 17, in which said vertical yoke assembly displacing means comprises means for selectively and independently adjusting each end of said yoke assembly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED. STATES PATENTS 654,080 Townsend July 17, 1900 1,516,627 Wise Nov. 25, 1924 2,132,426 Maussnest Oct. 11, 1938 2,219,163 Maussnest Oct. 22, 1940 2,254,461 Todd Sept. 2, 1941 2,324,855 Lane et a1. July 20, 1943 2,638,143 Maust May 12, 1953 2,733,750 Todd Feb. 7, 1956 OTHER REFERENCES Ser. No. 360,151, Ungerer (A.P.C.), published May 11, 1943.

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