Patent ID: 8733475

Claim:
A drill bit of gage diameter for drilling through earthen formations and forming a borehole having a sidewall, a borehole bottom and a borehole corner, the bit comprising: a bit body; a cone cutter coupled to said bit body and adapted for rotation about a cone axis of rotation; a nozzle coupled to said bit body and adapted for discharging drilling fluid generally toward the borehole corner; a circumferential gage row of gage cutting teeth on said cone cutter, said gage cutting teeth having a pair of flanking surfaces intersecting in a crest that extends along a gage tooth crest line, said gage tooth crest line forming an angle relative to said cone axis; and a circumferential inner row of inner cutting teeth spaced apart from said gage row, said inner cutting teeth comprising a root portion, an upstream end, a downstream end, a pair of flanking surfaces that intersect in a crest that extends along an inner tooth crest line, said inner cutting teeth further comprising an erosion shield on at least a portion of said upstream end and on at least a portion of said crest, and comprising a shield-free portion on said flanking surfaces that is disposed between said root and said crest; wherein the upstream end comprises a fluid baffle extending from proximate the crest to the root portion and aligned with the crest in a top view, wherein the fluid baffle is a fin having a width less than a width of the crest.