Method of subdividing and decelerating hot rolled long products

1. A method of subdividing and decelerating a hot rolled long product advancing along a delivery path from a rolling mill to a cooling bed, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) arranging a shear and a decelerator in succession along said delivery path, said decelerator comprising a set of driven pinch rolls preceded by a plurality of deflector rolls;

(b) contacting a lead segment of said product with said pinch rolls operating at an initial speed at least equal to that of the advancing product;

(c) actuating said shear to separate said lead segment from the remainder of said product; and

(d) decelerating said lead segment by:

(i) reducing the speed of said pinch rolls; and

(ii) actuating said deflector rolls to deflect said product segment from said delivery path into a sinuous path.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein steps (b), (c), and (d) are performed sequentially.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein steps (d)(i) and (d)(ii) are performed simultaneously.

4. The method of claims 1 , 2 , or 3 wherein said initial speed is higher than that of the advancing product.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said deflector rolls are freewheeling and staggered on opposite sides of said delivery path.