Lever-and-Tongs System

During the era of looping pit operations for rod rolling, this technique stationed an operator at a location where the rod emerged from one stand and had to be inserted into the next stand. The second stand was in close proximity of the first. As the leading end of a rod emerged from one stand, the large looping pit would allow the high-speed rod to accumulate in a loop. The operator (referred to as a catcher) would “grab” the rod with tongs and feed it into the next stand. As the second stand performed its rolling function, the accumulated rod would be guided by the walls of a pit to loop around.