Portable lathe

Claim 1

A portable lathe comprising: (a) a housing extending along a longitudinal axis and having an open end area for receiving a workpiece to be machined at one end of said housing; (b) an annular cutter head and carrier shaft assembly disposed within the housing and arranged to be rotated about and translated along said rotational axis, the cutter head part of said assembly including a radially outer surface defining a cylindrical bearing guide surface and an inner annular area; (c) one or more cutter bits mounted on the inner annular area of the cutter head part of said assembly, the cutter bit or bits being inclined relative to the longitudinal axis to cut a conical taper on a workpiece inserted into said open end of the housing and presented to the cutter head part, the taper converging towards the interior of the housing; (d) an annular, rotatable ring gear drivingly connected to the exterior of the carrier shaft part of said cutter head and carrier shaft assembly, said carrier shaft part slidable longitudinally within said ring gear, said ring gear fixed against longitudinal motion along said longitudinal axis; (e) dual drive shafts extending through the housing and drivingly connected to said ring gear on opposed sides of said ring gear; (f) rolling bearing means within the housing and in engagement with said bearing guide surface of said cutter head part for supporting and locating said cutter head part while the latter is rotating and translating about and along said longitudinal axis; (g) feed means for causing said cutter head and carrier shaft assembly to translate along said longitudinal axis towards or away from said open end of said housing, said feed means including a threaded nut secured to the housing for rotational movement and a threaded feed rod axially movable within said feed nut and threadedly engaged therewith, said feed rod connected to said carrier shaft part of said cutter head and carrier shaft assembly through a joint connection permitting relative rotation between the feed rod and said carrier shaft part, whereby rotation of the feed nut causes the cutter head and carrier shaft assembly, and the feed rod, to translate along said longitudinal axis while said assembly is rotating, while said ring gear is rotating but not translating, and while said feed rod is translating but not rotating; (h) a workpiece annular guide located at said open end of said housing, said guide having a conical interior opening symmetrical about and concentric with said longitudinal axis, said conical opening of said guide converging towards said cutter head and carrier assembly; and (i) a plurality of projections extending axially in front of the housing opening about said conical interior opening of said guide and concentric with said opening for engaging cooperating openings in a workpiece presented in said open end of said housing for preventing relative rotation between such workpiece and the housing.