ReedHycalog bits from NOV celebrate 100 years of bit innovation

A century of business serves as a testament to the lasting value of a company. As World Oil celebrates its 100th year of publication, NOV is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Reed Roller Bit Company. Today, Reed’s legacy continues with ReedHycalog bits from NOV.

Fig. 1. The first Reed Roller Bit Company plant, in 1916.

Reed Roller Bit Company was born in a garage in Houston, Texas, where Clarence E. Reed partnered with J. H. Giesey to manufacture drilling tools. During the first year of operation, Reed developed a disc-type drill bit and produced a small catalogue. To accommodate a growing business, the company moved into a 3,200-ft² building (Fig. 1)—a Houston dance hall-turned-skating-rink in eastern downtown Houston—and the business continued to grow throughout the century.

In the early years, Reed Roller Bit Company established a reputation for designing, manufacturing and selling the highest-quality products. In 1919, the company marketed the standard model rock bit with the tagline, “the bit with the bite.”

By 1926, Reed had grown to more than 10 times its original size, and it relocated to an 11-acre site consisting of four buildings. Reed expanded to offer more oilfield products, including wireline bits, coring tools, valves, tool joints and specialty tools. Engineers completed work on the first rock bit with roller bearing-supported cutters, enabling bits to sustain a longer life and stay in the hole much longer. As a result, roller bearing bits began replacing bladed bits.

In the 1930s, Reed developed the Reed Sport Model bit, which incorporated a cast-bit body and a weld-in unified cutter assembly to produce a relatively lightweight bit made possible by welding and forging developments, Fig. 2. Reed also pioneered the application of cutting characteristics and abrasion resistance in both rock bit cutters and blade bits.

During World War II, Reed continued to manufacture tools used in rotary drilling for oil and gas. The company also helped the Allied war effort by using manufacturing facilities to produce materials for the armed services. Reed contributed army tank transmissions, aircraft landing struts and landing gear shaft assemblies, airplane engine mounts, gun tubes, mortar shell bodies, howitzer gun tubes, rocket bodies, and more.

Fig. 2. Reed’s early arm forging assembly area.

By the 1950s, the Reed Roller Bit Company had established itself as a market leader by making products like the Reed Cobra bit and the “Y” Series three-coned bit. During this time, the company began conducting an annual Reed Rig Census, which is continued to this day.

In the 1960s, Reed continued to expand its product offering. The company introduced further advances to rock bit technology, such as sealed bearings and new bushings. In 1967, Reed received Meritorious Awards for the friction-bearing insert bit and the tungsten carbide insert bit.

During the Texas oil boom of the 1970s, Reed products included oilfield bits, mining bits, tunneling cutters, tool joints, drill collars, fluid end expendables and shallow-capacity drilling rigs. In 1979, the three main product lines of the company split into three separate Texas corporations, to allow more focus on the separate products.

In the 1980s, Reed began developing diamond bits. In 1987, Reed merged with Hycalog. ReedHycalog formed the fixed-cutter product line that exists today.

In 2008, NOV purchased Grant Prideco and acquired ReedHycalog bits, and the product line served as the foundation of the Downhole business segment. Three years later, ReedHycalog bit technologies were applied to coring bits with the acquisition of Corion Diamond Products Ltd. The Corion Express is the flagship technology in a portfolio of coring products and services.

From the first line of disc-type bits to the latest offering of Hercules roller cone drill bits and the Tektonic drill bit platform, ReedHycalog bits are backed by design and engineering excellence. Today, ReedHycalog bits from NOV offer a selection of cutter technology, fixed-cutter bits, and roller cone bits engineered to perform efficiently and reliably in the most challenging drilling environments.