Aero Engine Bearings Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- 58.2% concentration. The top 5 of 32 ranked assignees hold 92 of the 158 records in scope, a field led by one company with 21 filings.
- Filing pace has cooled since the 2019 peak. Annual filings hit 32 in 2019 and growth from 2021 to 2024 fell 43%, though 2025-26 counts are still filling in due to publication lag.
- F16C bearing claims sit alongside turbine and gas-plant classes. 46 records carry F16C, but 80 also carry F01D and 44 carry F02C, showing bearing chamber claims are rarely filed in isolation.
Filing growth compares 2021 (7 records) with 2024 (4) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 158 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 158 published records matching engine main bearings, squeeze film dampers, bearing chambers and related terms — cage instability, skidding, hybrid ball bearings, buffer air, race spalling and load zone — filed between 2015 and mid-2026. The scope sits at the intersection of rotating machinery hardware and gas-turbine engine architecture, which is why the class composition below spans both F16C bearing hardware and F01D/F02C turbine classes rather than staying inside a single subclass.
Coverage runs to the 2026-07-31 data cut-off. Because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, the most recent one to two years of activity will read lower than they eventually settle once outstanding applications publish.
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Filing trend and technology mix
The two views below cover the same 158 records from different angles: one tracks when they were filed, the other what technical classes they carry.
Filing trend, 2017-2026
Filings rose from 4 in 2017 to a peak of 32 in 2019, then eased. The 2021-to-2024 span shows a 43% decline (7 to 4), a genuine slowdown in a corpus where 2024 is the last year that can be treated as complete; 2025 and 2026 figures will rise as later publications land.
IPC class composition
F01D (turbines & non-positive engines) appears on 50.6% of the 158 records, ahead of F16C bearings and couplings at 29.1% and F02C gas-turbine plants at 27.8%. Because records can carry multiple classes, these shares sum past 100% and should be read as overlap, not exclusive segments — a bearing chamber claim is routinely bundled with turbine-architecture claims in the same filing.
Shares are the percentage of the 158 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Aero Engine Bearings and Bearing Chambers with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about aero engine bearings and bearing chambers and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Apparatus and method for controlling a pressure differential across a seal of a bearing chamber (US20180252163A1)
Apparatus and methods for controlling a pressure differential across one or more seals of a bearing chamber in a gas turbine engine are disclosed. In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises a scavenge pump in fluid communication with an interior of the bearing chamber for driving oil from the bearing chamber; and a venting valve configured to cause venting of the interior of the bearing chamber in parallel to the scavenge pump based on the pressure differential across the one or more seals.Filed by Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp., published 2018-09-06.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6425450B1 | Load-shifting vehicle | 70 |
| 2 | US20060123796A1 | Secondary flow, high pressure turbine module cooling air system for recuperated gas turbine engines | 68 |
| 3 | US4730995A | Screw compressor bearing arrangement with positive stop to accommodate thrust reversal | 64 |
| 4 | US20130108202A1 | Bearing support apparatus for a gas turbine engine | 58 |
| 5 | GB2152148A | Controlling bearing chamber temperature in gas turbine engine | 57 |
| 6 | US2897021A | Ball bearing | 57 |
| 7 | US7383686B2 | Secondary flow, high pressure turbine module cooling air system for recuperated gas turbine engines | 56 |
| 8 | US6478553B1 | High thrust turbocharger rotor with ball bearings | 50 |
| 9 | US8727632B2 | Bearing support apparatus for a gas turbine engine | 46 |
| 10 | US3877743A | Fluid operated grapple | 44 |
Citation counts accumulate over time, so older records such as the 1980s screw-compressor bearing patent naturally lead the table; treat these as markers of influence on later filings rather than of current commercial relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers signal
Three patterns matter more than the raw counts: how tight the top of the field is, where the technology overlaps sit, and how filing pace has actually moved.
A narrow leadership group
The top 5 ranked assignees account for 92 of the 158 records in scope, with the leader alone holding 21. The top 10 extend that to 82.9% (131 records), leaving a genuinely thin tail below the tenth spot, which sat at 4 filings.
Pace has cooled from its 2019 peak
Annual filings peaked at 32 in 2019 and the 2021-2024 window shows a 43% drop. 2024 is the last year in this corpus that can be read as complete; treat 2025-26 counts as provisional given the roughly 18-month publication lag.
Bearing claims rarely stand alone
F01D turbine claims appear on just over half the corpus, ahead of F16C bearing hardware (29.1%) and F02C gas-turbine plants (27.8%). Filers are pairing bearing-chamber mechanics with broader engine-architecture claims rather than filing narrow bearing-only applications.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to aero engine bearings and bearing chambers, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the openings sit
The ranked leaders concentrate most of the corpus, but the technology composition points to sub-areas that have not attracted the same density of claims.
One company sets the pace
The top-ranked assignee holds 21 of the 158 records, well ahead of the field, and anchors a top-5 group that together controls 58.2% of all records in scope.
A defined second tier
Fifth place sits at 15 records and tenth place at 4, meaning the drop-off from the top group to the rest of the ranked 32 is steep rather than gradual.
Collaboration is limited and localized
Only 8 co-assignee pairs appear in the corpus, with the strongest repeated pairings involving named individual inventors alongside a single corporate assignee rather than cross-company alliances.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Rolls-Royce plc | 0 | — |
| Saint Augustin Canada Electric | 0 | — |
| RTX Corp (Raytheon Technologies) | 0 | — |
| Rolls-Royce Corp | 0 | — |
| General Electric Co | 0 | — |
| Siemens AG | 0 | — |
| United Technologies Corp | 0 | — |
| ELGI Equipments Ltd | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The landscape points to specific follow-up questions rather than a single conclusion.
Test freedom-to-operate against the top 5
With 58.2% of records held by five assignees, any new bearing chamber or damper filing should be checked against their claim scope before drafting.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaTrack how the post-2019 slowdown resolves
2025-26 filings are still publishing; revisit the trend once those years complete to see whether the 2021-2024 decline continues or reverses.
Monitor filing trends in EurekaProbe the under-claimed branches
Buffer-air seal control and hybrid ceramic bearing cage design show thinner direct coverage than the core turbine classes, worth a closer prior-art check.
Search white space in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
In this 158-record dataset, one assignee leads with 21 records, and the top 5 of 32 ranked assignees together hold 92 records, or 58.2% of everything in scope. The drop-off is steep: fifth place sits at 15 records while tenth place is down to 4. This means freedom-to-operate work in this space should prioritise checking the leading handful of companies first, since they control the majority of claim territory.
Filings peaked at 32 in 2019 and have since declined, with the 2021-to-2024 window showing a 43% drop from 7 to 4 filings. 2024 is the most recent year in this corpus that can be treated as complete, because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. Readers should not treat the lower 2025-26 counts as confirmation of a further decline, since those years are still filling in.
The dominant classes are F01D (turbines and non-positive-displacement engines) at 50.6% of the 158 records, F16C (shafts, bearings and couplings) at 29.1%, and F02C (gas-turbine plants) at 27.8%. Because a single filing often carries several classes, a bearing-chamber patent is commonly also tagged under broader turbine-architecture classes rather than filed as a standalone mechanical component claim. F16J seals and gaskets, at 22.2%, also appear frequently alongside these.
US20180252163A1, filed by Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp and published 2018-09-06, covers apparatus and methods for controlling the pressure differential across seals of a bearing chamber in a gas-turbine engine, using a scavenge pump paired with a venting valve that vents the chamber interior in parallel to the pump based on the measured pressure differential. It is a specific mechanism for pressure management rather than a broad claim over bearing chambers generally. Anyone designing a competing pressure-control or venting scheme for a bearing chamber should review its claim language closely before finalising a similar architecture.
Relative to the dense turbine and core bearing classes, sub-areas such as buffer-air seal pressure control, hybrid ceramic ball bearing cage design, and squeeze film damper integration with electric motor architectures show thinner direct coverage in this dataset. Race spalling detection and skidding mitigation under partial load zones are named in the search scope but do not dominate the class composition the way F01D and F16C do. These pockets are worth a targeted prior-art search before drafting new claims, since lower filing density does not guarantee an open path but does suggest less-crowded claim territory.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.