Background Art In prior art this type of rolling mill plants which generally involve one or more couples of embossed rolls, or cylinders supported on both sides, shaped according to the shape to be given to the rolled section is known.

The rolling cylinders or rolls of these rolling mill plants are supported by a so called rolling stand and are generally grouped into blocks which involve a plurality of couples of rolling cylinders or rolls, for example one orthogonal to the other so that, by a single passage it is possible to start with the raw materiale or stock and arrive to the finished section or bar or wire.

Terminological definitions For the purposes of this invention, the following expressions will be used: - rolling cylinders or rolls; - couple of rolling cylinders or rolls; - rolling stand or unit, involving one or more couples of rolling cylinders or rolls; - rolling block involving a plurality of rolling cylinders or rolls on the same plane or otherwise oriented or a plurality of rolling stands.

Considering the need of limiting the processing costs, there is a tendency to increase the rolling speed.

The existing structures are conceived, for many different reasons, so that a rolling block involves a single large sized electric motor which operates the different cylinders, and also the respective rolling stands by drive-shafts and gear systems.

These structures are still in use because of historical and ease reasons, but they are mainly used for making the rolling cylinders rotation speed absolutely even.

These structures are anyway complex and do not allow to exceed determined rolling speeds.

Purpose of the present invention Purpose of the present invention is that of conceiving a new type of structure of the rolling mill plants in which higher advancing speeds can be reached, for reaching and exceeding also 150 m/sec.

Disclosure of the innovative essence This and other purposes are reached as claimed by a rolling system, of the type involving at least one couple of opposite rolling cylinders or rolls, characterized in that it is made up as follows: - each rolling cylinder or roll is directly controlled at the axis of at least one respective electric motor which is in electric axis with the respective motor which controls the opposite rolling cylinder or roll; - means for controlling, changing and/or co-ordinating the speeds of all the electric motors operating said rolling cylinders are provided so that each couple has the same rotation speed.

Advantages of the invention The electric axis thus allows to eliminate the constraints of the mechanical drive with all the subsequent advantages.

Thus there is also the great advantage of reaching very high speeds

because there are no more limits forced by the gear-drive systems previously absolutely necessary when a single motor controlled at least two cylinders.

Other advantages are obviously the following ones: - elimination of gear-motors with pinion stands and relative lubrication plants; - dimensions and spaces reduction - maintenance costs reduction - investments reduction.

For synchronizing the two cylinders speed as said the known arts for operating the motors in electric axis will be used.

Advantageous, according to the invention, is the use of electronic control and programming systems managed by a computer in order to control and program the speed of the respective couples of cylinders or rolls in order to overcome the problem of whether or not changing the angular speed of one couple of rolls or cylinders respect to the other, because it is obvious that the best performance is obtained when the different cylinders or rolls are endowed with the peripheral exact rolling speed according to the rolled section advancing speed in that precise rolling point.

For such reason for example the couples of cylinders or rolls would need different angular speeds.

A typical case is the stretching of the rolled section during the rolling process, and it is known that the stretching involves a higher advancing speed, so that the downstream cylinders or rolls should rotate at an angular speed higher than the upstream ones, obviously proportioned to the reduction of the rolled section (thus an higher stretching of the rolled section).

The advantage is not only that of simplifying but also of reaching high rolling speeds: 150m/sec and more), in prior art not allowed due to the fact that the motion is mechanically transmitted (through gearings, shafts, bearings, etc.), both to the couple of cylinders of each single step (couple/stand) and between one step and the other (between one stand and the other).

In prior art these blocks are intended with a plurality of stands (e.g.

from 2 to 10 stands) controlled by one or two gear shafts which anyway are connected to a single electric motor (or more mechanically coupled motors).

In our case, for one block (example with 10 steps) we will therefore have 20 electric motors, while presently in the traditional blocks we have only one of them (or more motors placed one after the other mechanically connected by joints).

Advantageously the electric motors may be D.C. or A.C. ones with a frequency variation for embodying the condition of electric axis.

The advantages of the present invention in the case of high speed blocks are more considerable than those already mentioned for the single stand because the blocks are machines having extremely complex and expensive mechanics.

Description of a preferred embodiment These and other advantages will appear from the following description of preferential embodiment solutions, with the aid of the enclosed drawings, whose details are not to be considered as limitative but only given as examples.

Figure 1 is a view of a rolling stand according to this invention with the respective lateral supports, in which each cylinder according to this invention, is operated by a respective motor in axis, placed

outside the stand.

Fig. 2 shows the arrangement of the couple of embossed rolling rolls (1, 2) with a single system for adjusting their position (4), single supporting block (3), articulated shafts (11, 12) and respective motors in electric axis M1, M2, in this case with extended winding along the axis for the diametrical dimension reduction.

Fig. 3 shows another solution as a variation of the previous one in which there are two offset motors M1, M2.

Figure 4 is a solution with adjacent embossed rolling rolls 1, 2 and stand block (G) only on one side, in which after the respective supports (3) there are two motors for each roll axis (M1-MI; M2-M2) offset and spaced by articulated axes 11, 12.

Figure 5 is a front view of two opposite embossed rolling rolls and each supported by a rolling unit (G) where an adjusting system (4) is provided for the rolling roll 1, 2 position being the rolling rolls 1, 2 supported by embossing 3 and in which each roll 1, 2 is operated by articulated axis (11-12) to a respective single electric motor (M1, Ml).

Figure 6 shows a further solution as variation to the previous ones in which the motors M1 and M2 are opened wide by tilting during the opening wide of the respective connection axes 11, 12.

Fig. 7 shows a side view of a rolling block involving on a support (S) a plurality of rolling stands (G) with embossed rolls (1, 2) of the type according to previous figures, placed tilted at 450 and in which each couple of rolling rolls is orthogonal to the other.

Figure 8 is a front view of the rolling block according to previous figure.

In the specific case of these latter two figures, there are five rolling

blocks on one side and five rolling blocks on the other for a total of 20 rolling rolls, each operated by respective electric motor in electric axis.

Obviously, thanks to the present electronic and programming art it is possible to provide that some couples of rolling rolls rotate at an angular speed different from the others according to the objective optimizations of the rolling frictions, which by the rigid mechanical gearing art would not otherwise be possible.

If to this we add the advantage of the great mechanical and structural simplification and the possibility of reaching very high rolling speeds, it is well understood the important progress reached by this solution.

Up to now it has not been utilised perhaps for its great simplicity and probably for preserving technological ties with the mechanisms of old structural solutions, which did not allow those skilled in the art to see a great and innovative solution which was just within reach.

The solutions of figures 2,3,4,5,6 are shown according to their importance.

The solutions of figures 3,4,5,6 are variations of the preferential solution 2.