Patent ID: 8739900
Filing Date: 2014-06-03
Classification: E21B

Abstract:
1. A drilling assembly for facilitating drilling of a lateral wellbore, the drilling assembly comprising: a drill bit having cutting elements arranged and designed to drill at least a partial lateral wellbore through a sidewall of a wellbore, the cutting elements being supported by at least one cutting element support surface, the drill bit also having a junk channel disposed proximate the at least one cutting element support surface, an attachment end portion for coupling the drill bit to a drill string, and a shank disposed between the at least one cutting element support surface and the attachment end portion; a whipstock having a face with a profile arranged and designed to guide the drill hit into the sidewall during drilling of the at least partial lateral wellbore, the whipstock also having a top end portion and a back which is opposite the face; and a connector coupling the drill bit to the whipstock for deployment of the drill bit and whipstock into the wellbore, the connector including a longitudinal member with two end portions, one end portion coupling to the shank and the other end portion coupling to the back of the whipstock, the longitudinal member arranged and designed to extend between the shank and the whipstock and to be at least partially disposed in the junk channel of the drill bit, the connector also including a separation device arranged and designed to separate the drill bit from the whipstock, the separation device being disposed in the longitudinal member at a position between an uppermost portion of the at least one cutting element support surface and the whipstock, the position selected to minimize any portion of the connector remaining after separation which must be milled prior to drilling the at least partial lateral wellbore through the sidewall of the wellbore.