Morse taper shanks and sockets

One of several standards for taper shanks on twist drills, reamers, and other rotating tools, and for the matching socket on a lathe, milling machine, drill press, etc. cone-shaped One advantage of such an arrangement is that it centers the tool very accurately. For shanks of the size and with the degree of taper in the Morse series, friction alone is enough to turn the tool and to hold the shank in the socket.

At the end of the shank is a flat protrusion called the tongue (early usage) or tang (current usage). To release the shank from the socket, a wedge (a key with a taper of 1.75 in 12) is tapped through a keyway at the bottom of the socket. It pushes on the bottom of the tang and frees the tool.

Morse taper originally was thought of as 5/8 inch per foot (0.625). As precision improved, it was realized that the existing patterns did not quite conform to this ideal. Rather than orphan equipment already in use, the slightly-off specifications have continued to be used.

	taper, inches per foot	diameter of end of socket	length of shank, to bottom of tang	depth of socket
MT 0	0.62460
MT 1	0.59858
MT 2	0.59941
MT 3	0.60235
MT 4	0.62326
MT 5	0.63151
MT 6	0.62565
MT 7	0.62400

This data is provided to enable the user to identify a . For detailed specifications, consult a reference such as Machinery's Handbook.