Composite Fuselage Barrel Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- One assignee dominates the ranking outright, with the leader at 439 records against a fifth-place figure of just 11 — a steep drop-off rather than a gradual taper.
- Filing has fallen sharply since the 2019 peak, down from 37 records that year to a confirmed -90% drop between 2021 (21) and 2024 (2), the last complete year in the dataset.
- Claim density concentrates in shaping and airframe classes, with B29C (shaping of plastics) touching 63.9% of the 534 records in scope and B64C (aeroplanes) at 32.6% — leaving web/filament handling (B65H, 4.3%) comparatively open.
Filing growth compares 2021 (21 records) with 2024 (2) — 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.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks patent activity at the intersection of composite fuselage structures and the manufacturing steps that make one-piece barrels possible: layup mandrels, cure cycles, ply drop design, circumferential splice joints, fiber steering and fiber wrinkling control. The search string pairs structural terms with process terms, so the corpus favours records that describe how a barrel gets built rather than what it is made of in the abstract.
534 published records sit in scope, spanning United States, European, German, PCT, Canadian and Austrian filings. The assignee ranking covers 63 companies, counted in families, with a single filer holding a commanding share of the ranked total and a long tail of individual inventors and smaller suppliers filing once or twice.
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 534 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the claim density.
Filing peaked in 2019, then fell hard
Filing rose from 12 records in 2017 to a peak of 37 in 2019, then declined; the confirmed span from 2021 (21) to 2024 (2) shows a -90% drop. 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in as publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so they should not be read as a continuation of the decline yet.
Shaping and airframe classes dominate
B29C (shaping of plastics) appears in 63.9% of the 534 records in scope, well ahead of B64C (aeroplanes & helicopters) at 32.6% and B64F (ground installations for aircraft) at 24.2%. Web, sheet and filament handling (B65H) sits at just 4.3%, the smallest of the eight subclasses tracked here.
Shares are the percentage of the 534 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Composite Fuselage Barrel Manufacturing with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about composite fuselage barrel manufacturing and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records in this field
Composite layup tools for aircraft fuselage barrels, methods of assembling the layup tools, and aircraft fuselage barrel sections formed utilizing the layup tools
The filing describes aligning an adaptor mating surface of a splice adaptor with a mandrel mating surface of a layup mandrel, attaching the splice adaptor at an initial attachment point, then attaching a lower lobe of the splice adaptor to a lower lobe of the layup mandrel. A separate method covers forming a fuselage barrel assembly by providing two fuselage barrel sections and a splice ring, aligning the two sections, and locating them relative to the splice ring.US20170087780A1 — The Boeing Company, filed 2017-03-30
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6692681B1 | Method and apparatus for manufacturing composite structures | 316 |
| 2 | US20060060705A1 | Splice joints for composite aircraft fuselages and other structures | 299 |
| 3 | US20060108058A1 | Composite sections for aircraft fuselages and other structures, and methods and systems for manufacturing suc… | 230 |
| 4 | US20060118235A1 | One-piece barrel assembly cart | 150 |
| 5 | US20060226287A1 | Structural panels for use in aircraft fuselages and other structures | 144 |
| 6 | US7159822B2 | Structural panels for use in aircraft fuselages and other structures | 132 |
| 7 | US7527222B2 | Composite barrel sections for aircraft fuselages and other structures, and methods and systems for manufactur… | 125 |
| 8 | US20080290214A1 | Shaped composite stringers and methods of making | 119 |
| 9 | US7325771B2 | Splice joints for composite aircraft fuselages and other structures | 118 |
| 10 | US20100124659A1 | Staged cocuring of composite structures | 109 |
Citation counts are drawn from a searched corpus and favour older filings; treat them as a signal of influence within the field, not a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers say about this field
Three patterns stand out once the filing trend, the assignee ranking and the IPC composition are read together.
One filer sets the terms of this field
The leading assignee holds 439 records against a fifth-place figure of 11 — not a gradual taper but a cliff. Anyone filing new claims in layup tooling or splice joints is filing against that leader's prior art first.
Filing has cooled from its 2019 peak
After peaking at 37 records in 2019, filing activity dropped to 21 in 2021 and just 2 in 2024 — the last year in the dataset that can be treated as complete. That decline predates any effect of publication lag.
Shaping process claims dominate the corpus
B29C (shaping of plastics) touches nearly two-thirds of records in scope, far ahead of any other subclass. Structural airframe classes (B64C, B64F) follow, while web and filament handling (B65H) remains the thinnest-claimed of the eight tracked subclasses.
Collaboration is limited and mostly bilateral
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear across the corpus, the strongest linking a major airframe manufacturer with a fiber supplier. Most filers in the ranked list act alone rather than co-filing.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to composite fuselage barrel manufacturing, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and who has stopped
The ranking is dominated by one manufacturer, with a long tail of suppliers, smaller airframe firms and individual inventors filing once or twice. Recent-year momentum across the most active names has flattened to zero, consistent with the broader post-2021 decline.
The dominant filer in barrel manufacturing
The top-ranked assignee's record count dwarfs the rest of the field, spanning layup mandrel design, splice joint geometry and one-piece barrel assembly methods. Its most recent-year filing count has dropped to zero, matching the corpus-wide slowdown.
A steep drop after the leader
Fifth place in the ranking sits at 11 records, and tenth place at 5 — a sharp fall from the leader's 439 rather than a smooth distribution. Several named entrants, including a fuselage-section specialist and a fiber-materials supplier, sit in this tier.
Individual filers persist in a corporate-dominated field
Several individually named inventors appear directly in the assignee ranking alongside corporate filers, suggesting parts of this space are still open to smaller or independent filing rather than locked up entirely by large manufacturers.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| The Boeing Company | 0 | -100% |
| Spirit AeroSystems, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Short Brothers PLC | 0 | — |
| Toray Industries, Inc. | 0 | — |
| FIEGENBAUM CARL RAY | 0 | — |
| Learjet Inc. | 0 | — |
| PICKELL KRISTIN | 0 | — |
| MILLER JEFFREY L | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a dominant filer, a cooling filing rate, and a handful of thinner-claimed process branches. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper on specific claims.
Map claims against the leader's portfolio
With one assignee holding 439 of the ranked records, any new filing in layup tooling or splice joints should be checked against that portfolio first, not the field average.
Explore assignee claims in EurekaWatch the under-claimed branches
Web/filament handling and fiber steering carry the thinnest claim density among the eight tracked subclasses — a candidate area for a first-mover filing.
Run a white space search in EurekaConfirm the 2024 baseline before acting on the trend
2024 is the last complete year in this dataset; 2025 and 2026 figures will keep rising as publications catch up, so re-check the trend before treating the decline as settled.
Track filing trends in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
The assignee ranking in this dataset is dominated by one manufacturer, whose record count of 439 is far ahead of the rest of the 63 ranked companies; fifth place sits at just 11 records. That gap means the leader's portfolio effectively sets the boundary for layup mandrel, splice joint and one-piece barrel assembly claims. Any competitor or new entrant filing in this space should check that leader's claims first rather than assume the field is evenly split.
Filing peaked at 37 records in 2019 and has since declined; the confirmed span from 2021 (21 records) to 2024 (2 records) shows a -90% drop, and 2024 is the most recent year in the dataset that can be treated as complete. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025 and 2026 figures will still rise as more filings publish, so it would be premature to call the trend beyond 2024 settled. Based on what is confirmed, though, filing activity has clearly cooled from its 2019 high.
This Boeing filing from 2017-03-30 covers composite layup tools for aircraft fuselage barrels, including methods of aligning and attaching a splice adaptor to a layup mandrel, and separately, methods of assembling two fuselage barrel sections around a splice ring. It sits among the most-cited records in this corpus and is representative of the layup-tooling and splice-joint claim territory that the leading assignee occupies. A freedom-to-operate review in this area should read its specific claim language rather than rely on the abstract alone.
Within the eight IPC subclasses tracked in this dataset, web, sheet and filament handling (B65H) has the smallest share at 4.3% of the 534 records in scope, well behind shaping (B29C, 63.9%) and airframe structure classes. Moulding material indexing (B29K, 4.7%) is similarly thin. Lower claim density in a subclass does not guarantee an easy filing, but it does suggest less prior art to design around compared with the heavily claimed shaping and splice-joint territory.
A precise concentration percentage cannot be computed from this evidence set because the assignee ranking and the total record count are measured in different units. What is clear is the shape of the ranking itself: the leader holds 439 records, fifth place holds 11, and tenth place holds 5, which is a steep drop rather than a gradual spread across many similarly sized filers. That pattern points to one dominant filer and a long tail of smaller companies and individual inventors.
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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.