Method for cooling hot-rolled shapes

A method for cooling hot-rolled shapes, said method including the steps of:

• cooling hot lengths of rolled shapes on a first bed section of a cooling bed by laterally advancing the shapes therealong along a direction extending transverse to their lengths,
• thereafter effecting a closely-spaced collection of hot-rolled shapes on a second bed section of said cooling bed by moving them only in a direction extending transverse to their lengths to thereby reduce cooling thereof as compared with their cooling in said first bed section,
• removing the closely-spaced collection of hot-rolled shapes from the second bed section by moving them in a direction parallel to their longitudinal lengths,
• loading the closely-spaced collection of hot-rolled shapes into a container after they have been removed from said second bed section,
• cooling the hot-rolled shapes in said container, and
• unloading the hot-rolled shapes from said container after cooling.

A method for cooling elongated hot-rolled shapes issuing from a rolling mill which comprises:

• conveying said shapes in a first direction after rolling to an entry table,
• transferring said shapes from the entry table to a cooling bed along a second direction which is essentially perpendicular to said first direction,
• moving said shapes on said cooling bed in said second direction,
• forming said shapes on said cooling bed into closely-spaced groups of shapes while moving them in said second direction only to thereby reduce the cooling the thereof as compared with their cooling during said step of moving said shapes on the cooling bed,
• elevating said groups of shapes from the cooling bed and transferring them along said first direction to cooling containers, and
• thereafter removing the groups of shapes from the cooling containers after cooling therein to a desired temperature.