or close to the vertical plane including the corresponding edge 98 of the strip or stock 1 to be rolled whereas the driving side end 97 of the effective surface of the backup roll 9 39 is positioned inwardly from the corresponding end of the effective surface of the work roll 2 39 and also in or close to the vertical plane including the corresponding edge 99 of the strip 1 when this position is reached the backup roll moving and positioning devices 45 are stopped and then the cylinders 31 are restored to their original position for lowering roll metal chocks 7 7 39 and hence the backup roll 9 thus the backup roll 9 is brought into contact with the work roll 2 to hold the same at this stage the strip 1 is ready to be fed for rolling when it is desired to change the width of the rolled product the foregoing operation may be repeated until a desired axial contact length is attained between the backup rolls 9 9 39 and the associated work rolls 2 2 39 according to the present invention section dimensions can be controlled to very close tolerances in a very effective manner only by transversely moving the frames 26 and 27 and hence the backup rolls 9 and 9 39 by the mechanism which is very simple in construction.