Patent ID: 8141665

Claim:
A rotary earth boring drag bit, comprising: a body including a plurality of blades and a crown at an axially leading end of the body, the crown comprising at least a cone; a plurality of cutters at the crown on at least one blade of the plurality of blades; and at least one bearing element positioned on the at least one blade, defining a bearing surface contained within the cone for disposition against an earth formation during drilling and adjacent at least two laterally adjacent cutters of the plurality of cutters on the at least one blade of the plurality of blades, the at least one bearing element including a quantity of material protruding above an axially leading portion of the at least one blade rotationally behind at least rotationally leading portions of the at least two laterally adjacent cutters, extending laterally between the at least two laterally adjacent cutters and abutting each of the at least two laterally adjacent cutters along a rotationally trailing end and at least a portion of opposing sides of each of the at least two laterally adjacent cutters, the at least one bearing element being configured to effectively reduce an exposure of and limit, under an axial load applied to the body, a depth-of-cut into the earth formation of the at least two laterally adjacent cutters.