Rolling mill

A rolling mill comprising:

• two rolls acting in opposition to one another in a substantially vertical pressing plane and defining a lower roll and an upper roll;
• each of said rolls having cylindrical rotatable parts which act upon a coacting counter roll;
• a plurality of support elements for supporting the cylindrical rotatable parts substantially along their entire length and with an adjustable pressing force;
• each of said support elements being operative in a predetermined pressing direction;
• the support elements of said two rolls acting in opposition to one another in pairs to produce said pressing force;
• at least the cylindrical rotatable parts of the upper and lower rolls being movable in the substantially vertical pressing plane;
• a common actuation line for each of the pairs of support elements which act in opposition to one another upon the two rolls;
• each said pair of support elements defining a lower support element for the lower roll and an upper support element for the upper roll;
• said common actuation line extending from said lower support element to said upper support element of said pair of support elements acting in opposition to one another;
• said common actuation line serving to control the pressing force exerted by said pair of support elements;
• a plurality of said pairs of lower and upper support elements being arranged in individual groups at said lower and upper rolls, respectively, and extending in a lengthwise direction of said rolls;
• at least one position detector provided for the rotatable part of one of the rolls and serving for the detection of the position of said rotatable part relative to a stationary part of the rolling mill;
• a regulation device arranged at said common actuation line extending between said pair of support elements and upon which acts said position detector;
• a respective common actuation line and regulation device being provided for each individual group of said lower and upper support elements;
• said at least one position detector acting upon said regulation devices for controlling operation of said plurality of pairs of support elements;
• said regulation devices serving to control a force differential between a larger pressing force of the lower support elements of the lower roll in relation to a lower pressing force of the upper support elements of the upper roll as a function of the position of said rotatable part of said one roll provided with said at least one position detector in order to control the position of the rotatable parts of the upper and lower rolls in response to detection of the position of said rotatable part of said one roll provided with said at least one position detector;
• and
• the resultant of the pressure force of the lower support elements of the lower roll decreasing with increasing height of the position of the rotatable part thereof until there is attained an equilibrium position in a manner such that during operation, in the equilibrium position, the upwardly directed force of the lower support elements of the lower roll is essentially equal to the sum of the downwardly directed pressing force of the upper support elements of the upper roll and the weight of all movable parts located therebetween.