Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Rolling mill

ROLLING MILL, a combination of machinery used in the manufacture of malleable iron and other metals of the same nature. By it the iron which is heated and balled in the puddling furnace is made into bars or sheets. It consists of rollers, journaled in pairs in metallic boxes in the iron standards or cheeks, and capable of being set toward or from each other by means of set-screws. The grooves in the rolls are so made as to be co-active in giving the required form to the heated iron passing between them. The face of each roller has a series of grooves gradually decreasing in size toward one end. The iron is passed through each in succession, being thus gradually reduced in size and increased in length. By this operation two objects are effected: (1) The scoriæ and other impurities are expelled, and (2) the required form whether of plate, bolt, or bar, is given to the metal.