Continuously cast carbon and stainless steel hot-rolling mill

A hot-rolling mill for rolling a cast slab of metal to a reduced thickness in a first stage, and then rerolling the once-rolled slab to a lesser thickness in a second stage, comprising:

• a continuous casting means (10) constituting a source of cast slabs having a first thickness;
• a stationary tunnel furnace (12) having entrance means (22) for receiving either a slab of metal of said first thickness, or a hot-rolled uncoiled slab of metal of a lesser, second thickness;
• said tunnel furnace being operative to increase the temperature of either the slab of metal of said first thickness or the uncoiled slab of metal of said second thickness to a hot-rolling temperature and to pass a slab of metal to a mill means;
• mill means (24) having adjustable rolls for either rolling a slab received from the tunnel furnace from said first thickness to said second thickness, or for rolling an uncoiled slab of metal from said second thickness to a lesser third thickness;
• coiler means (26) for coiling a slab of metal of the second thickness as it is discharged from said mill means;
• decoiler means (30) located at the entrance means (22) of the tunnel furnace for uncoiling a coiled slab of metal of the second thickness, and for re-introducing the uncoiled slab of metal to the furnace to reheat the uncoiled slab of metal to a hot rolling temperature;
• whereby the reheated uncoiled slab of metal is rolled from said second thickness to said third thickness by the mill means after leaving the tunnel furnace;
• said tunnel furnace having a temporary storage section (32) for receiving slabs of metal from said casting means, said temporary storage section having means (38) for moving slabs of metal into said entrance means (22), whereby the tunnel furnace is supplied with slabs of metal of said first thickness interspersed with uncoiled slabs of metal of said second thickness.