Variable crown sleeve roll

Claim 1

A variable crown sleeve roll for rolling steel strip comprising an arbor, a sleeve having the opposite ends of the inner peripheral surface shrink fitted to the outer peripheral surface of said arbor for being sealingly secured thereto and the portion of said sleeve between said opposite ends defining with said arbor a chamber of a predetermined shape, said arbor having fluid passage means therein for supplying a pressurized fluid to said chamber to thereby control the amount of crown of said sleeve, the thickness of said sleeve being tapered along straight lines and decreasing from the opposite ends to the center, the optimum minimum thickness t min of the sleeve at the central axial portion thereof, the optimum pressure receiving length l of the sleeve, the optimum contact pressure p 1 between the sleeve and the arbor, and the sleeve thickness taper angle α being in accordance with the optimum formulas: ##EQU11## B-(D/4)≦l≦L-(D/2) °≦α≦ ° p.sup.1 >p wherein: R is the average radius of the sleeve at the axially central position thereof D is the outer diameter of the sleeve L is the overall length of the sleeve B is length of the roll to contact the width of the steel strip to be rolled q is the unit length rolling load; and P is the pressure of the fluid.