Automatic control and drive for mills

Claim 1

A COMBINED DRIVE AND DRIVE CONTROL SYSTEM FOR CONTINUOUS MILL OF THE TYPE HAVING A PLURALITY OF SEQUENTIALLY POSITIONED AND ADJACENT ROLL MEANS, SAID SYSTEM COMPRISING, A PLURALITY OF DIFFERENTIAL GEARING DRIVE MEANS WITH ONE FOR EACH OF SAID ROLL MEANS, A SUBSTANTIALLY CONSTANT SPEED, COMMON GEAR DRIVE MEANS CONNECTED TO EACH SAID DIFFERENTIAL MEANS TO MECHANICALLY AND DIRECTLY SUPPLY THE MAJOR PART OF THE DRIVE POWER TO EACH SAID DIFFERENTIAL DRIVE MEANS, A PLURALITY OF ADJUSTABLY VARIABLE DISPLACEMENT AND CORRESPONDINGLY VARIABLE SPEED SETTING DRIVE MEANS EACH INCLUDING A HYDRAULIC PUMP AND MOTOR AND EACH CONNECTED TO ONE OF SAID DIFFERENTIAL DRIVE MEANS AND ALL MECHANICALLY DRIVEN BY SAID COMMON DRIVE MEANS TO SUPPLY THE REMAINING MINOR PART OF THE DRIVE POWER TO EACH SAID DIFFERENTIAL MEANS TO VARY THE SPEED OF THE ROLL MEANS DRIVEN THEREBY, A PLURALITY OF OPERATOR CONTROLLED AND INTERMITTENTLY OPERABLE MOTOR MEANS EACH CONNECTED TO ADJUSTABLY REGULATE THE DISPLACEMENT AND CORRESPONDINGLY THE SPEED SETTING OF ONE OF SAID HYDRAULIC DRIVE MEANS AND TO SIMULTANEOUSLY REGULATE THE DISPLACEMENT AND CORRESPONDINGLY THE SPEED SETTING OF AN ASSOCIATED ADJUSTABLE ELEMENT MEASURING THE DISPLACEMENT SPEED SETTING ADJUSTMENT OF ITS CONNECTED AND ASSOCIATED HYDRAULIC DRIVE MEANS AND A PLURALITY OF INDICATORS WITH ONE FOR EACH HYDRAULIC DRIVE MEANS EACH COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE COMPARISON MEANS CONNECTED TO PROVIDE AN ANALOGUE MEASURE OF THE RATIO BETWEEN THE DISPLACEMENT SPEED SETTING FOR THE CORRESPONDING HYDRAULIC DRIVE MEANS AND THE DISPLACEMENT SPEED SETTING FOR AN ADJACENT HYDRAULIC DRIVE MEANS TO AID SAID OPERATOR IN HIS CONTROL OF SAID MOTOR MEANS.