Intermittent high-drag oil well drilling bit

Claim 1

A rotarty drill bit for drilling a well bore in a formation, the bit comprising: a bit body having a threaded pin at its upper end adapted to be detachably secured to drill pipe or the like for rotating the bit body; a cutter head rotatably mounted on the bit body at the bottom thereof, said cutter head comprising a cutter body of generally circular shape in transverse section having a bottom and a side wall extending up from the bottom, and a plurality of drag cutting elements mounted on and projecting from said bottom and side wall of the cutter body, with the cutting elements on the bottom of the cutter head being engageable with the bottom of the well bore and the cutting elements on the side wall being engageable with the side of the well bore, the cutter head being of slightly smaller overall diameter than the well bore and being mounted on the bit body with its axis of rotation at an angle relative to that of the bit body; and means for interconnecting the cutter head to means for rotating the cutter head relative to the bit body, with the cutter head thus being rotatable independently of the rotation of the bit body, whereby with the bit in a well bore and upon rotation of the bit body and rotation of the cutter head relative to the bit body, each cutting element intermittently engages the formation, with only a predetermined number of the cutting elements engaging the formation at any one point in time, but with all cutting elements engaging the formation over a predetermined period of time, for enabling improved cooling of the cutting elements for extended cutting element life.