Land Rig Hoisting & Drawworks Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- Five companies hold 66.4% of the field. 3,998 of 6,020 records in scope sit with the top five assignees, with a long tail of single-digit filers behind them.
- Filings have pulled back from a 2017 peak of 439. Annual output fell from 226 in 2021 to 116 in 2024, a 49% drop over that span, though 2025-2026 counts are still filling in.
- E21B dominates, but winches and controls are thin. 76.0% of records touch earth and rock drilling classifications, while dedicated winch/capstan (B66D) and control-system (G05B) classes each sit under 3%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (226 records) with 2024 (116) — 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 6,020 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Land rig hoisting and drawworks patents cover the mechanical and control systems that raise, lower and hold drill string and casing on a land rig: drawworks drums and brakes, traveling and crown block assemblies, drilling line reeving and spooling, deadline anchors, and the hook-load sensing that ties hoisting to drilling automation. The search scope pairs core hoisting hardware terms with operational and control concepts — brake heat dissipation, regenerative braking, drilling line spooling — so the corpus captures both the physical rig iron and the instrumentation layered onto it.
The dataset spans 6,020 published records filed or published between 2015 and the July 2026 data cut-off. Because publication trails filing by roughly eighteen months, the most recent one to two years understate actual filing activity and should be read as provisional.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 6,020 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which technical classes carry the claim density.
A 2017 peak, then a step down
Annual filings peaked at 439 in 2017. From a more recent baseline, output fell from 226 in 2021 to 116 in 2024, a 49% decline over three years. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete due to publication lag and should not be read as a continued slide.
Drilling mechanics dominate; controls and power are thin
E21B (earth and rock drilling) appears in 76.0% of the 6,020 records and G01V (geophysics/surveying) in 29.4%, reflecting how tightly hoisting hardware claims are bundled with wellbore drilling systems. Winches and capstans (B66D) sit at just 2.6%, control and regulating systems (G05B) at 2.7%, and power/grid systems (H02J) at 1.5% — all well below the drilling-mechanics classes, since a record can carry more than one class these shares do not sum to 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 6,020 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Land Rig Hoisting and Drawworks with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about land rig hoisting and drawworks and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaA recent filing worth reading closely
Dual line drawworks (US20250223139A1)
A dual line drawworks system runs two drawworks, each on its own drilling line through sheaves on the crown block and a traveling block, with one line end fixed to an anchor. The traveling assembly uses split blocks that move independently and attach removably to the underside of the crown block. The two drawworks are coupled to shared control systems, including variable frequency drives, and are configured to run at matched speed while load is monitored across both lines.Abstract trimmed for length; full claims available via the linked record.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6206108B1 | Drilling system with integrated bottom hole assembly | 555 |
| 2 | US6021377A | Drilling system utilizing downhole dysfunctions for determining corrective actions and simulating drilling co… | 539 |
| 3 | US5842149A | Closed loop drilling system | 506 |
| 4 | US6088294A | Drilling system with an acoustic measurement-while-drilling system for determining parameters of interest and… | 497 |
| 5 | US20090090555A1 | Automated directional drilling apparatus and methods | 443 |
| 6 | US6233524B1 | Closed loop drilling system | 408 |
| 7 | US20040040746A1 | Automated method and system for recognizing well control events | 328 |
| 8 | US6173793B1 | Measurement-while-drilling devices with pad mounted sensors | 291 |
| 9 | US5202680A | System for drill string tallying, tracking and service factor measurement | 286 |
| 10 | US5107940A | Top drive torque restraint system | 276 |
Citation counts favour older, foundational filings inside this searched corpus and are a signal of influence within it, not of current commercial importance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns worth weighing before drafting claims or scoping freedom-to-operate in this space.
Claim space at the top is dense
Five companies account for 3,998 of the 6,020 records in scope. Filing near core drawworks brake, block and line-reeving mechanics puts a new applicant directly against incumbents with the deepest portfolios in the field.
Volume has come off its peak, not disappeared
Annual filings dropped from 226 in 2021 to 116 in 2024. That is a real pullback from the 2017 high of 439, but recent-year assignee momentum data shows several leaders still filing every year, just at lower volume.
Dedicated hoisting hardware is under-classified
Most records sit inside broader drilling-systems classes (E21B, G01V) rather than winch- or capstan-specific classification (B66D) or control-systems classification (G05B), suggesting hoisting mechanics are often claimed as part of a drilling system rather than as standalone hardware.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to land rig hoisting and drawworks, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee concentration and where activity is slowing
The ranked assignee list covers 100 companies against the full 6,020-record set. Filing sits heavily with a handful of oilfield services majors, with recent-year momentum pulling back across nearly all of them.
One assignee dominates the ranking
The top-ranked assignee holds 2,613 records, well ahead of the fifth-placed company at 243 and the tenth at 148. That gap defines the field: one dominant filer, a mid-tier of oilfield services majors, then a long tail.
Ten companies hold the bulk of the field
The top 10 assignees combine for 4,968 records, 82.5% of all records in scope. A new entrant is not competing against a fragmented field; it is competing against a small, well-established group.
Even leaders are filing less, not more
Recent-year momentum shows declines across the leading assignees, from roughly -50% to -85% year over year, with volumes now down to single digits per year for most of them. None show an increase.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Schlumberger Technology Corp | 3 | -85% |
| Saudi Arabian Oil Co | 3 | -50% |
| Baker Hughes Oilfield Operations LLC | 2 | -60% |
| Schlumberger | 1 | -75% |
| Schlumberger Canada Ltd | 1 | -75% |
| Baker Hughes Holdings LLC | 0 | — |
| Halliburton Energy Services, Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Schlumberger Technology LLC | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific next questions depending on whether you are drafting, clearing, or scouting.
Check freedom-to-operate before drafting
With 82.5% of records held by ten assignees, a new drawworks or block filing needs claim mapping against that concentrated set before drafting begins, not after.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaTrack recent-year momentum by assignee
Filing volume has fallen across leaders since 2021; watching which assignees keep filing at reduced volume versus which stop entirely flags where competitive pressure is easing.
Monitor assignee activity in EurekaScope the under-claimed branches
Regenerative braking, automated line spooling, and anchor load monitoring sit well below the density of core E21B drilling-system claims and merit a dedicated search before committing to a filing strategy.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions on this landscape
Filing in this space is heavily concentrated: the top-ranked assignee alone holds 2,613 of the 6,020 records in scope, and the top five assignees combined hold 66.4% of the field. The leaders are large oilfield services companies with decades of drilling-systems portfolios, not niche hoisting-equipment specialists. A newcomer should expect to file directly against this concentrated group rather than into open space.
Annual filings peaked at 439 in 2017 and have since declined, falling from 226 in 2021 to 116 in 2024, a 49% drop over that three-year span. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around eighteen months, so the most recent years should not be read as continuing the same slope. The honest read is a field that has cooled from its peak but where several leading assignees are still filing every year.
The bulk of records sit in earth and rock drilling classification (E21B, 76.0% of records) and geophysics/surveying (G01V, 29.4%), reflecting how closely hoisting hardware is claimed alongside broader drilling systems. Smaller but distinct clusters cover control and regulating systems (G05B, 2.7%), dedicated winches and capstans (B66D, 2.6%), and power/grid systems (H02J, 1.5%). Because a single record can carry multiple classifications, these shares add up to more than 100% of the 6,020-record base.
Relative to the density of core drawworks brake and block mechanics, dedicated winch/capstan classification (B66D) and control-systems classification (G05B) each cover under 3% of records, and specific sub-areas like regenerative braking, automated drilling line spooling, and deadline anchor load monitoring are thin relative to the overall field. That does not guarantee those areas are unclaimed, but it flags them as areas warranting a focused prior-art search before assuming they are blocked. Dual-drawworks coordination, as claimed in the 2025 Helmerich & Payne filing, is one recent example of activity moving into a less-crowded configuration.
US20250223139A1, filed by Helmerich & Payne in 2025, describes a dual-line drawworks system: two independently driven drawworks each running its own line through the crown and traveling blocks, coordinated by shared control systems including variable frequency drives so both drums run at matched speed. The traveling assembly uses split blocks that move independently and attach removably to the crown block. For competitors, the claims most likely to matter are around the matched-speed dual-drive control logic and the split-block mechanical arrangement, since those are the specific structural and control elements described rather than drawworks or traveling blocks generally.
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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.