Jet Pump and Hydraulic Lift Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 80% of the field sits with five assignees. The top 5 combined account for 32 of the 40 records in scope, while the ranked list runs to only 13 companies before the tail runs out entirely.
- Filing activity peaked in 2020 and has not returned. 2020 recorded 9 filings, the high point of the window; the 2021-to-2024 span shows a -100% move, from 3 filings down to 0.
- Drilling-well classification dominates, but digital processing shows up too. E21B covers 72.5% of the 40 records, while G06F electric digital data processing appears in 22.5% — a sign that control and monitoring claims are being layered onto mechanical lift hardware.
Filing growth compares 2021 (3 records) with 2024 (0) — 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 40 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Jet pump and hydraulic lift technology spans power fluid systems, nozzle-throat geometry, and the mechanical hardware used to move a positive-displacement or jet pump downhole without a sucker rod string. The search scope combines core lift-system terms with operating-condition terms — cavitation onset, power fluid cleanliness, free pump retrieval, and pump intake pressure — to isolate records that address the practical failure modes operators care about rather than every downhole pump patent in general.
The 40 records in scope run from 2015 through the 2026 cut-off, with United States filings the largest single receiving-office group, followed by Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and WIPO PCT filings. Publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one or two years in any trend chart will understate actual filing activity.
Trend and technology composition
The filing trend and IPC composition below are drawn directly from the 40 records in scope; class shares are computed against the full record count and will sum to more than 100% because a single record can carry several IPC subclasses.
A 2020 peak followed by a sharp drop-off
Filings rose from zero in 2017 to a peak of 9 in 2020, then declined; the 2021-to-2024 span alone shows a -100% move, from 3 down to 0. Treat 2025 and 2026 as incomplete rather than as evidence the field has gone quiet.
Drilling-well mechanics lead, digital control rides alongside
E21B (earth and rock drilling / wells) appears on 72.5% of the 40 records, confirming that most filings are anchored in physical wellbore hardware. G06F (electric digital data processing) at 22.5% and F04B (positive-displacement pumps) at 20.0% show a secondary cluster of control-logic and pump-mechanism claims layered on top of that base.
Shares are the percentage of the 40 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Jet Pump and Hydraulic Lift with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about jet pump and hydraulic lift and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
Rodless Pump and Multi-Sealing Hydraulic Sub Artificial Lift System
Filed by Digital Downhole IP, LLC, this 2022 application describes a positive-displacement rodless pump and multi-sealing hydraulic sub intended to eliminate rod wear and lower pump intake pressure, extending well reserve life independent of casing configuration or depth.Abstract text is excerpted from the published filing.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US3550696A | Control of a well | 190 |
| 2 | US3757516A | Geothermal energy system | 138 |
| 3 | US4896725A | In-well heat exchange method for improved recovery of subterranean fluids with poor flowability | 91 |
| 4 | US3783453A | Self-regulating artificial heart | 85 |
| 5 | US4085796A | Well tubing handling system | 53 |
| 6 | WO1989012728A1 | In-well heat exchange method for improved recovery of subterranean fluids with poor flowability | 40 |
| 7 | US4203414A | Stone cutting apparatus | 33 |
| 8 | US20160314225A1 | Wellbore thermal flow, stress and well loading analysis with jet pump | 14 |
| 9 | US20220381120A1 | System and Method for Controlling Artificial Lift Units | 11 |
| 10 | GB1324929A | Geothermal energy system | 10 |
Citation counts favour older records simply because they have had longer to accumulate citations inside the searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on later filings, not as a ranking of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the record count, assignee ranking and citation data are read together: heavy concentration among a handful of filers, a filing trend that peaked years ago, and citation weight sitting on decades-old foundational patents rather than recent art.
Five assignees hold four-fifths of the field
The top 5 assignees combined account for 32 of the 40 records in scope — 80.0% of the field. The ranked list itself only runs to 13 companies before it is exhausted, and the top 10 combined already reach 100.0% of all records. There is no long tail of small independent filers here; the field is genuinely narrow.
Activity has not recovered since its 2020 peak
Filings peaked at 9 in 2020, then fell; the tracked span from 2021 (3 filings) to 2024 (0 filings) is a full -100% move. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete and should not be read as confirmation the field has gone cold.
Influence sits on older, broader patents
The most-cited record in this set, covering well control, carries 190 citations — well ahead of the next entries, which include a geothermal energy system and an in-well heat-exchange method. These older, broadly worded patents anchor later filings even though they predate the specific power-fluid and cavitation terms that define this search.
Physical wellbore hardware still anchors the field
E21B appears on 72.5% of the 40 records, confirming that the bulk of activity remains mechanical and wellbore-specific. The presence of G06F (22.5%) and G05B (5.0%) alongside it points to a smaller but real cluster of filings pairing that hardware with digital control or monitoring logic.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to jet pump and hydraulic lift, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and where the gaps sit
The ranked list covers 13 companies, counted in records, and is dominated by a single leading filer with 11 records; by fifth place the count has fallen to 3, and by tenth place to 1. Co-assignee activity is minimal — only two co-filing pairs appear in the whole set, and the strongest pairing has just 3 shared records — which suggests most work here is done by a single named entity rather than joint ventures.
One filer well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 11 of the 40 records in scope, nearly a third of the entire landscape on its own. No other single filer approaches that count, and the gap between first and fifth place (3 records) is wide.
A thin band of active mid-tier filers
Fifth place in the ranking holds 3 records, and the count drops to a single record by tenth place. Between second and tenth place, the field is a mix of individual inventors and small technology-holding entities rather than major oilfield-services names.
Almost no joint filing
Only two co-assignee pairs appear across the whole dataset. The strongest, an individual-inventor pairing, shares 3 records; the other pair shares just 1. This is a field of solo filers, not consortia.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Weatherford Technology Holdings, LLC | 0 | — |
| Landmark Graphics Corporation | 0 | — |
| DIGITAL DOWNHOLE INC | 0 | — |
| PARKER MARVIN T | 0 | — |
| NOONAN PETER J | 0 | — |
| MAGMA ENERGY INC | 0 | — |
| Otis Engineering Corporation | 0 | — |
| Exxon Production Research Company | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a narrow, concentrated field with a filing trend that has cooled off since 2020 but a digital-control layer that keeps appearing alongside the mechanical core. Two lines of follow-up are worth pursuing before committing engineering or legal resource.
Check freedom-to-operate around the leading assignee's claims
With one filer holding 11 of 40 records, a claim-by-claim comparison against that portfolio is a more useful first step than a broad novelty search across the whole field.
Run a claims comparison in EurekaMap the digital-control overlap before drafting new claims
G06F and G05B classifications sit alongside the mechanical E21B core in a meaningful minority of records; drafting claims that ignore this overlap risks running into control-logic prior art that a mechanical-only search would miss.
Explore the technology map in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The ranked list of 13 companies is led by a single assignee holding 11 of the 40 records in scope, well ahead of the rest of the field. The top 5 assignees combined hold 32 records, or 80.0% of the total, and the top 10 combined reach 100.0% of all records. This means the field is dominated by a small group rather than spread across many independent filers, so a competitive review should start with that top group rather than a broad market scan.
Filing activity peaked at 9 records in 2020 and has since declined, with the tracked 2021-to-2024 span showing a full -100% drop from 3 filings to 0. However, publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one or two years in the trend are understated by definition and should not be read as proof the field is dead. A fuller picture will only be visible once 2025 and 2026 filings finish publishing.
E21B, the earth and rock drilling / wells classification, appears on 72.5% of the 40 records in scope, confirming that most patents are anchored in physical wellbore hardware such as pump mechanisms and hydraulic subs. A secondary cluster involves digital processing and control classifications — G06F at 22.5% and G05B at 5.0% — indicating that a meaningful minority of filings pair mechanical lift hardware with monitoring or control logic. Because a single record can carry multiple classifications, these percentages add up to more than 100%.
Sub-areas named directly in the search terms but not backed by a deep filing stack include nozzle-throat ratio optimisation, cavitation-onset detection, power fluid cleanliness monitoring, and free pump retrieval mechanisms. These appear in abstracts and classification mix but do not carry dedicated concentrated filing activity the way the core mechanical hardware does. That gap does not guarantee an easy filing, but it is a reasonable starting point for a freedom-to-operate check before drafting new claims.
US20220010661A1, assigned to Digital Downhole IP, LLC and published in January 2022, describes a rodless pump and multi-sealing hydraulic sub artificial lift system. Its stated purpose is to eliminate rod wear and lower pump intake pressure using a positive-displacement pump design, extending reserve life regardless of well casing configuration or depth. Anyone designing a rodless or reduced-rod-wear hydraulic lift system should review its specific claim language on sealing configuration and intake-pressure reduction before finalising a competing design.
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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.