Nip indicator for casting machines

In a casting machine having a nip formed by cooperating rolls with thermal fluid circulating therein, movable toward and away from each other through which material to be compressed is passed, a bank of material feeding into said nip, a pair of fluid cylinders exerting force on a pair of pivot arms, said pivot arms exerting force on one of said rolls relative to the other by exerting force on both ends of one of said rolls in the direction of the other of said rolls and exerting excess force on a pair of adjustable mechanical stops, said mechanical stops blocking said pivot arms for maintaining a predetermined minimum distance between center portions of said rolls, the improvement comprising:

• means for measuring nip size by pivot arm position;
• means for measuring the temperatures of said rolls;
• means for calculating thermal expansion of the rolls from said temperatures;
• means for correcting said positional nip size measurement by adding in the thermal expansion of the rolls;
• and
• means for displaying the corrected nip size.