Hydraulic Pumps and Motors Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- Filing has plateaued, not grown. annual filings rose from 59 in 2017 to a peak of 85 in 2022, then flattened — this is a maintained field, not an expanding one.
- Positive-displacement pumps dominate the claim space. F04B accounts for 2,032 of 2,278 records, dwarfing rotary-piston (F04C) and reciprocating (F01B) alternatives.
- Momentum has stalled even among the largest filers. tracked assignees including Hitachi Construction Machinery, Komatsu and Caterpillar show zero filings in the latest year, and Parker Hannifin is down 67% YoY.
Filing growth compares 2021 (61 records) with 2024 (50) — 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 2,278 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the hydraulic pump and motor patent record shows
The dataset covers 2,278 patent families published between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from filings that combine hydraulic pump, axial piston pump or hydraulic motor terminology with claims language around volumetric efficiency, displacement control, cavitation, noise or contamination sensitivity. That combination narrows the corpus to functional and control-oriented claims rather than generic mechanical pump hardware, which is why the IPC composition concentrates so heavily in F04B (positive-displacement pumps) and F03C (positive-displacement hydraulic engines).
Filing activity rose through the late 2010s, peaked in 2022 at 85 records, and has not exceeded that level since. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the last one to two years in any trend understate true filing activity — but even allowing for that lag, the flattening pattern across 2023-2025 and the near-universal drop to zero or near-zero recent filings among the largest assignees points to a technology base that is being maintained and defended rather than expanded.
Let an AI agent run this analysis on your own technology
Pick a task. Every answer cites the patents behind it.
Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 2,278-family dataset: how filing volume has moved year over year, and how those filings distribute across the IPC subclasses that touch hydraulic pump and motor control.
A peak in 2022, then a plateau
Annual filings climbed from 59 in 2017 to a high of 85 in 2022. The years since have not surpassed that peak, and the most recent year is a partial count still subject to publication lag — but the trajectory across the preceding two to three years already reads flat rather than rising.
Positive-displacement claims crowd out alternatives
F04B alone covers 2,032 of the 2,278 records, with F03C (hydraulic engines) a distant second at 424. Actuator systems (F15B), transmissions (F16H) and excavating equipment (E02F) appear as adjacent, smaller clusters — evidence that most patent activity sits on core pump/motor mechanisms rather than on the vehicle or machine systems that consume them.
Shares are the percentage of the 2,278 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Hydraulic Pumps and Motors with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about hydraulic pumps and motors and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
US20230052785A1 — Axial piston pump controller (Caterpillar Inc., 2023-02-16)
An axial piston pump controller for an axial piston pump having a fixed valve plate and a variable displacement is provided. The controller determines pump displacement and calculates a pump displacement control current based on rotational speed and a pump stiffness adjustment factor, itself derived from a pump stiffness control map keyed to output pressure and other operating inputs.Abstract trimmed for length; full claims available via the linked record.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US10794165B2 | Power distribution trailer for an electric driven hydraulic fracking system | 249 |
| 2 | US6719080B1 | Hydraulic hybrid vehicle | 247 |
| 3 | JP1998103112A | Hydraulic driving gear | 208 |
| 4 | US20100032959A1 | Wind turbine system | 196 |
| 5 | US10738580B1 | Electric driven hydraulic fracking system | 181 |
| 6 | US20200263527A1 | Power distribution trailer for an electric driven hydraulic fracking system | 180 |
| 7 | US20200263526A1 | Electric driven hydraulic fracking system | 165 |
| 8 | US20180209415A1 | Pump Failure Differentiation System | 165 |
| 9 | US20190162179A1 | Active hydraulic ripple cancellation methods and systems | 162 |
| 10 | WO2018101909A1 | Configuration and operation of an optimized pumping system | 159 |
Citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations within this corpus; treat them as a signal of influence on subsequent filers, not as a ranking of current technical importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Put your own technology through the same analysis
Eureka on the web
When you want the answer in the next five minutes.
The agent works the prompt against patents and technical literature, citing every source.
Run your analysis now →MCP server & REST API
When it has to run inside your own pipeline.
Patent search, landscape analysis and assignee resolution as MCP tools. Drop them into any agent framework, or call REST directly.
Browse MCP servers →What the filing pattern signals
Beyond raw counts, three patterns matter for anyone deciding where to file or where to look for design freedom.
The technology base is being maintained, not expanded
Filings rose steadily to 2022 and have flattened since. Combined with near-zero recent-year activity from the largest assignees, this points to a mature claim space where incumbents are defending existing positions rather than opening new ground.
Positive-displacement mechanisms absorb most claim activity
F04B's share leaves comparatively little room among core pump architectures; the more open ground sits in adjacent subclasses like F04C (rotary-piston) and F01B (reciprocating), which carry a fraction of the filings.
Filing geography still skews toward the US, Japan and Europe
The United States, Japan and the EPO together account for the bulk of receiving-office activity, with China and the UK trailing. That distribution suggests enforcement and licensing leverage is still concentrated in established hydraulics markets rather than shifting toward newer manufacturing bases.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to hydraulic pumps and motors, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and momentum
A handful of construction-equipment and hydraulics specialists anchor the ranking, but recent-year activity has slowed across nearly all of them — a pattern worth checking before assuming any single filer is still pressing forward.
Even active filers are pulling back
Parker Hannifin shows 1 filing in the latest year against a 67% year-over-year decline, and construction-equipment names including Hitachi Construction Machinery, Komatsu and Caterpillar report zero filings in the same period. Publication lag explains some of this, but not a pattern this broad.
Collaboration is sparse and mostly internal
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, the strongest linking Parker Hannifin with an individual inventor, and two linking Hitachi Construction Machinery with other Japanese hydraulics suppliers. Cross-company joint filing is the exception, not the norm.
A long tail sits behind the named leaders
Beyond the recognisable construction and hydraulics names, the ranking runs into a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants, typical of a field where core mechanisms are settled and most new activity is incremental control or sensing refinement.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Parker Hannifin Corporation | 1 | -67% |
| Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Komatsu Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Caterpillar Inc. | 0 | — |
| NATIONAL SERVICE ALLIANCE HOUSTON LLC | 0 | — |
| Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Torvec, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Daikin Industries, Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a plateaued, concentrated field with a thin set of under-claimed branches. The next steps depend on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, competitive tracking or identifying a filing gap.
Check freedom-to-operate against the F04B cluster
With over 2,000 of 2,278 records in positive-displacement pump claims, any new filing on core pump mechanisms needs a close read of that cluster before drafting.
Explore the claims in EurekaTrack the assignees that have gone quiet
Zero-filing recent years from several large construction-equipment names could mean a shift to trade secret, a platform pause, or filings not yet published — worth monitoring rather than assuming exit.
Set up assignee tracking in EurekaTest claim language in the under-claimed branches
Rotary-piston displacement control and contamination-sensitivity sensing carry far fewer filings than the core cluster and may offer more drafting room.
Draft and stress-test claims in EurekaCommon questions about hydraulic pump and motor patents
The ranking is anchored by construction-equipment and hydraulics specialists including Parker Hannifin, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Komatsu and Caterpillar, alongside a long tail of smaller and single-filing entrants. Recent-year momentum has slowed sharply across nearly all of these names, with several showing zero filings in the latest tracked year. That does not mean these companies have exited the space; it more likely reflects publication lag combined with a genuinely flatter filing curve since the 2022 peak. Anyone tracking a specific competitor should check filing history over several years rather than the latest year alone.
Filings rose from 59 in 2017 to a peak of 85 in 2022 and have not exceeded that level since. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the very latest years in the trend are understated, but the plateau visible across 2023-2025 already suggests flat-to-declining activity rather than continued growth. Combined with the drop-off in recent filings from major assignees, the evidence points to a maintained rather than expanding technology base.
F04B, covering positive-displacement pumps, accounts for 2,032 of the 2,278 records in this dataset and is by far the dominant classification. F03C (positive-displacement hydraulic engines) is a distant second at 424 records, with F15B (fluid-pressure actuators), F16H (gearing and transmissions) and E02F (excavating equipment) appearing as smaller adjacent clusters. Anyone drafting new claims in this space should expect F04B prior art density to be the primary obstacle.
The clearest under-claimed areas sit outside the dominant F04B cluster: rotary-piston displacement control (F04C), reciprocating hydraulic engine hybrids (F01B), and control-layer topics like contamination-sensitivity sensing and cavitation-noise correlation modelling carry markedly fewer filings. These are not guaranteed gaps — low filing volume can also reflect low commercial interest — but they warrant a closer prior-art check before assuming the space is occupied the way core pump mechanisms are.
US20230052785A1, assigned to Caterpillar, claims an axial piston pump controller that calculates a displacement control current from rotational speed and a pump stiffness adjustment factor derived from a stiffness control map keyed to output pressure. It sits squarely in the F04B/displacement-control cluster that dominates this dataset, making it a useful reference point for anyone drafting control-current or stiffness-map claims in variable-displacement axial piston pumps. Its practical relevance depends on the specific claim language of its granted or pending claims, which should be reviewed directly rather than inferred from the abstract.
Research Hydraulic Pumps and Motors in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole hydraulic pumps and motors corpus yourself, in your own scope.
Every answer comes back with patent numbers you can open.
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.