US Patent 7404454 Bit face orientation control in drilling operations

A system for selectively orienting a bit at the end of a drillstring in a wellbore, the system, in certain aspects, having: motive apparatus for rotating a drillstring and a bit connected to an end of the drillstring; a control member manually movable to effect a change in orientation of the bit; a control system in communication with the motive apparatus and the control member for translating a signal from the control member indicative of manual movement of the control member into a command to the motive apparatus, the command commanding the motive apparatus to rotate the drillstring and the bit in correspondence to the movement of the control member.