Abstract: A drill bit comprising a bit body, at least one roller cone rotatably mounted on the bit body. The cone has a plurality of milled teeth at selected locations on the cone. At least one of the milled teeth comprises a substrate having a convex crest and a layer of hardfacing applied to said convex crest. The convex crest is adapted to produce at least one of a convex axial stress distribution, a substantially even axial stress distribution, and a substantially smooth axial stress distribution.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a roller cone drill for drilling earth formations and a method of using the same. The drill bit includes a bit body and a plurality of roller cones attached to the bit body and able to rotate with respect to the bit body. The drill bit further includes a plurality of cutting elements disposed on each of the roller cones, an offset of at least about 0.375 inches; and a journal angle less than about thirty degrees. In one embodiment, the drill bit includes three roller cones. In another embodiment, the cutting elements of the bit are arranged on each cone so that cutting elements on adjacent cones intermesh between the cones.

Abstract: The invention is a drill bit that has a bit body, at least one roller cone attached to the bit body and able to rotate with respect to the bit body, and a plurality of cutting elements disposed on the at least one roller cone. At least one bit design parameter is selected so that the cutting elements wear in a selected manner when drilling an earth formation.

Abstract: A novel rolling cone rock bit includes a plurality of PDC or other cutters mounted to the leg of the drill bit and positioned to cut the troublesome corner of the bottomhole. The plurality of cutters may be the primary cutting component at gage diameter, or may be redundant to gage teeth on a rolling cutter that cut to gage diameter. Consequently, the occurrence of undergage drilling from the wear and failure of the gage row on a rolling cutter is lessened. Another inventive feature is the inclusion of a mud ramp that creates a large junk slot from the borehole bottom up the drill bit. The resulting pumping action of the drill bit ramp speeds up the removal of chips or drilling cuttings from the bottom of the borehole, reduces the level of hydrostatic pressure at the bottom of the borehole and minimizes the wearing effect of cone inserts regrinding damaging drill cuttings.

Abstract: Provided are methods, data communication apparatus and computer programs for managing communications between a remote communication manager and a set of communications managers in an associated group. The group of communication managers have shared access to resources which enable any communication manager in the group to recover from failures experienced by another communication manager in the group. In particular, recovery of failed inbound and outbound channels is achieved with the advantage of improved availability of data transmissions. Preferably, the recovery uses synchronization information to ensure that data is recovered to a consistent state to that channel recovery is achieved without loss of data integrity.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a roller cone drill for drilling earth formations. The drill bit includes a bit body and a plurality of roller cones attached to the bit body and able to rotate with respect to the bit body. The drill bit further includes a plurality of teeth disposed on each of the roller cones such that the number of teeth on each cone differs by two or fewer from the number of teeth on each of the other cones. In one preferred embodiment, the drill bit includes three roller cones. In another preferred embodiment, the teeth of the bit are arranged on each cone so that teeth on adjacent cones intermesh between the cones. In another preferred embodiment, the drill bit includes a first cone, a second cone, and a third cone, and the number of teeth on each of the cones is 17, 16, and 18, respectively.

Abstract: A roller cone drill bit includes a bit body adapted to be rotated about a longitudinal axis. At least one leg depends from the bit body, and a journal is cantilevered from the leg. A roller cone is rotatably mounted on the journal. A cone retention member is disposed between a first slot in the journal and a corresponding second slot in the roller cone. An access hole runs through the journal to the first slot, penetrating the first slot at a location away from the top dead center of the first slot.