Apparatus for casting steel strip

Apparatus for casting steel strip comprising:

• a pair of generally horizontal casting rolls forming a nip between them;
• metal delivery means to deliver molten steel into the nip between the casting rolls to form a casting pool of molten steel supported on the rolls;
• means to chill the casting rolls;
• means to rotate the casting rolls in mutually opposite directions, thereby producing a cast strip delivered downwardly from the nip;
• strip guide means to guide the strip delivered downwardly from the nip through a transit path which takes it away from the nip;
• and
• an enclosure to confine the strip throughout said transit path comprising an enclosure wall including a movable section disposed beneath the casting rolls and formed to serve as a movable receptacle for scrap produced at any stage of the casting process, which enclosure is sealed to control ingress of oxygen containing atmosphere during operation of the apparatus, thereby controlling the formation of scale on the strip during operation of the apparatus.