In this paper, the design and control aspects of a multispan tension simulator are presented. The simulator consists of four driven rolls, including unwinder, winder, and two bridle rolls. Some relationships between design parameters and characteristics of the simulator are explained as a design guide of a multispan system. A new control algorithm of continuous load balance control is proposed for the control of speed and tension in the multispan system. The strip tension is controlled by the continuous balancing of the load torque of rolls without a tension sensor. The simulation and experimental results reveal conspicuous improvement of tension control performance by the proposed algorithm.