2,305,028 W. J. PHANEUF Dec. 15, 1942.Patented Dec. 15, 1942 UNITED STATES 2,305,028 PATENT OFFICE 2,805,028, RIFLING BROACH Wilrose J. Phaneuf, Hudson, Mass. assignor to ‘The Lapointe Machine Tool Company, Hudson, ‘Mass, a corporation of Maine Application February 8, 1941, Serial No, 278,043 2 Claims, ‘This thvention relates to rifling the barrels of firearms. ‘The grooves provided for this purpose are of relatively slight depth but are also rela- tively wide. ‘They must be uniform in Iead oF twist and in diameter end they must be very 5 smoothly finished, Tt has been customary to produce such grooves by making many successive passes of a single tooth cutter through a barrel which is being simultaneously tured to provide a desired lead 10 or twist, ‘It is the general object of my invention to pro- vide a broach by which firearm barrels may be completely rifled by a single pass of the broach through the barrel, A further object {s to provide a broach with teeth so desiened and related that the broach will produce its own uniform lead or twist in a Darrel mounted for free rotation, thus avolding the necessity of means for positively rotating the barrel as in the previous practice. ‘My invention further relates to arrangements and combinstions of parts which will be herein- after described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, ‘A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawing, in which Fig. 1 isa side elevation of my with parts broken away; Pigs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are transverse sections, taken along the lines 2—2, 33, 44 and §—5 respec tively in Pig. 1; and Fig. 6 is an enlarged partial sectional view of a Portion of a firearm barrel, and illustrates suc- cessive steps in the removal of stock by my ims proved broach, Referring to Pig. 1, my improved rifling broach 4s a substantially elongated tool comprising four sttccessive series of broaching units A, B,C and D, each provided with a plurality of broaching teeth. ‘Throughout the length of the broach, the teeth ave disposed in helical lines, corresponding to the desired lead or twist of the grooves. ‘The teeth of the first or A series of broaching units produce a plurality of narrow helical grooves which are of substantially full depth but only of about one-half width. ‘The teeth of the second or B series of broaching units remove additional stock at each side of the grooves formed by the teeth of the first series and produce rifling grooves 50 which are of full width and very neatly of full depth. ‘The teeth of the third or C series of broaching units slightly increase the depth of the srooves, and the teeth of the fourth and last or D series of broaching units accurately size and 65 20 Amproved broach, 40 rey (cr, 9028.1) smooth the grooves to the desired final section and finish. Describing the broach more specifically, the usual shank {0 is provided by which the broach may be pulled through the work. The diameter of this shank and also the diameter of each broaching unit between the cutting teeth corre- sponds closely to the internal diameter of the barrel to be broached, so that the brozch will be maintained at all times accurately concentric with the bore, In the illustrative drawing, it is assumed that the finished rifle grooves are to be approximately 9.198" in width and approximately 0.452”” in di ameter to the bottoms of opposite grooves. ‘The teeth in the first or A series of units are approximately one-half the width of the desired finished erooves. ‘The tecth in the first unit (Fig. 2) in the A series are shown as 0.075” wide, and ‘the teeth in the last unit (Pig. 3) in the A series are 0.072”, the width of tooth being preferably slightly reduced from unit to unit to avoid side friction. ‘The outside diameter of the teeth in the first or A series of units increases progres- sively by steps of 0.0012" from 0.4455” in Fig. 2 to 0.515" in Fig. 3. Each tooth thus’ removes sufficient depth of stock to make a clear cut and the teeth in the first unit (Mig. 2) make initial cuts of suficient depth to establish the twist or lead and to auto- maticelly turn the work, if the work 1s supported in a rotatable work holder having anti-frietion bearings. ‘The teeth in the first or A serles of units (Figs. 2 and 3) remove successive layers of stock as in dicated in Pig. 6 and finally produce narrow grooves 15 of substantially full depth. The teeth in the second or B series of units (Fig. 4) operate in a similar manner to remove layers of stock in the portions 11 (Pig. 6) at each. side of the initial narrow groaves 15. ‘These teeth also preferably decrease slightly in width to avoid side friction but increase substantially in outside diameter from unit to unit, the amount of this merease in the illustrated broach being 0.0011” per unit and the diameter increasing from 04457” in the first unit (Fig. 4) to 04512" for the last B unit. ‘The two sroove portions (7 are approximately equal in width to the single groove 8, so that the load fs substantially the same for both cuts. ‘The first and second or A and B series of units ‘thus produce a plurality of grooves G of the de- sired Jead or twist and of approximately full Width but slightly under ful depth,2 ‘The teeth in the third or C series of units (Pig. 5) perform a semi-finish operation and are slightly stepped-in from unit to unit, with an fl- lustrated increase in diameter for each unit of 6.0002”. ‘The tnits of the finish or D series are prefer- ably all identical and are substantially the same as the last stepped-in unit (Fig. 5). ‘They act to size, smooth and polish the grooves already cut by the preceding teeth. ‘The follower 20 at the end of the broach is of the same diameter as the shank 10 and also the same as the diameter of the broaching units be- tween the cutting teeth, so that the broach is concentrically guided until fully removed from ‘the work, Tt should be noted that siiicient teeth are al~ ways positioned in the grooves to accurately maintain the lead, as successive teeth enter the work. Each tooth is slightly undereut on its ad- vance edge and slightly backed off on its outer surface, in accordance with usual practice. ‘A broach thus designed and constructed has been found capable of producing accurate and satisfactory grooving in a firearm barrel by a single pass through the work. By so doing, my improved broach effects very great reduction in the time consumed in the rifling operation, as compared with the previous practice. ‘Having thus described my invention and the » advantages thereof, T do not wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than as set forth in the claims, but what I claim is: 1, Arifiing broach comprising a first series of broaching units having teeth each substantially one-half the width of a finished groove and in- creasing progressively and by substantial incre ments in outside diameter to slightly less than fall depth of groove, a second series of broaching units having teeth’ each substantially the full width of a finished groove and imcreasing pro- 0 2,805,028 gressively by substantial increments in outside diameter to slightly less than full depth of groove, a third series of broaching units having stepped-in teeth of substantially full width and snereasing progressively in outside diameter but by relatively small increments to full depth of groove, and a fourth series of substantially iden- teat broaching units having finish teeth of sub- stantially full width and of full outside diam- eter, and the teeth in all of said successive units being angularly related to effect a prodeter- mined lead and each cutting tooth in the first ‘and second series removing substantially equal increments of stock. 2, A rifling broach comprising a first series of broaching wnits having teeth each substantially ‘one-half the width of a finished groove but with successive teeth progressively and very slightly reduced in width and increasing progressively ‘and by substantial increments in outside diam- eter to slightly less than full depth of groove, f2 second series of broaching units having teeth each substantially the full width of a finished Groove but with successive teeth progressively and very slightly reduced in width and increas- ing progressively by substantial increaments in ouiside diameter to slightly Jess than full depth fof groove, a third series of broaching units hav- ing stepped-in teeth of substantially full width and increasing progressively in outside diameter but by relatively smell inerements to full depth of groove, and a fourth series of substantially identics] broaching units having finish teeth of substantially full width and of full outside di- ameter, and the teeth in all of said successive units beng angularly related to effect a prede- termined lead and each cutting tooth in the first ‘and second series removing substantially equal Snerements of stock. WILROSE J. PHANEUF.