US Patent Issued to NATIONAL OILWELL VARCO on April 1 for "Fixed cutter drill bits and cutter element arrangements for same" (British, American Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 2 -- United States Patent no. 12,264,542, issued on April 1, was assigned to NATIONAL OILWELL VARCO LP (Houston).

"Fixed cutter drill bits and cutter element arrangements for same" was invented by Richard Rivera Jr. (Conroe, Texas) and Robert Peter Douglas Tipples (Cheltenham, Great Britain).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A drill bit for drilling a borehole in an earthen formation has a central axis and a cutting direction of rotation. The bit includes a bit body configured to rotate about the axis in the cutting direction of rotation. The bit body includes a bit face. The bit also includes a blade extending radially along the bit face. In addition, the bit includes a fi...