Microtunnelling Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
- Filing nearly doubled in three years. documented filings rose from 100 in 2021 to 175 in 2024, a +75% increase over that span.
- No single filer dominates. the leading assignee holds 44 of 1,359 records, and the top 5 combined account for just 11.8% of all records in scope.
- Claims cluster on shaft support and pipe fittings. E21D (shafts, tunnels & mine support) and F16L (pipes & pipe fittings) each appear on roughly half of all records, while digital monitoring (G06F) sits at only 4.0%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (100 records) with 2024 (175) — 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 1,359 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What the microtunnelling and pipe jacking patent record shows
Microtunnelling and pipe jacking cover trenchless methods for installing pipe through launch and reception shafts, using jacking stations to push pipe strings behind a guided cutting head. The patent record in scope spans 1,359 published families filed between 2015 and mid-2026, built from claims naming jacking force, bentonite lubrication, jacking stations, alignment control, pipe joints or launch shafts together with the core microtunnelling or pipe jacking terms. That combination captures both the mechanical hardware — jacking rigs, pipe joints, cutting heads — and the process controls that keep a bore on line and grade.
Filing is concentrated in construction-heavy jurisdictions rather than in a handful of firms: China accounts for the large majority of receiving-office activity, with Japan a distant second and the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Australia making up smaller shares. That geographic skew reflects where large-diameter trenchless infrastructure work is happening at volume, more than it reflects where the underlying inventions originate.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any chart will understate real activity. The complete trend through the last full year is the more reliable read.
Filing rose sharply into 2024, the last complete year
Annual filings climbed from 22 in 2017 to a peak of 175 in 2024, with the 2021-to-2024 span alone showing a +75% increase. Counts for 2025 and 2026 will continue to rise as later publications land; they should not be read as a slowdown.
Shaft support and pipe fittings dominate the claim space
E21D (shafts, tunnels & mine support) appears on 52.5% of the 1,359 records in scope and F16L (pipes & pipe fittings) on 47.8%, confirming that most inventive activity sits on the tunnel-support and pipe-joint hardware itself. Drilling (E21B, 9.4%), foundations (E02D, 6.9%) and mine ventilation (E21F, 5.4%) form a secondary tier, while digital process control (G06F, 4.0%) and material testing (G01N, 2.5%) remain comparatively thin — a gap worth checking against the white-space section below.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,359 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Microtunnelling and Pipe Jacking with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about microtunnelling and pipe jacking and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative and most-cited filings
US11242748B2 — Tunneling device for pipe jacking and its construction method
A tunneling apparatus for use in a pipe jacking method including an excavating apparatus, a head front-end track, a middle-section track, and a rear device. The excavating apparatus includes a transmission device and a chain blade running on the head and middle-section tracks, shaped to match the pipe section's cross-section. The rear apparatus includes a jacking device mounted in a construction well, with the front end of the middle-section track connected to the head front-end track.Filed by WANG, YUBIN; published 2022-02-08.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CN104265321A | 超大型全断面矩形顶管掘进施工方法 | 83 |
| 2 | CN102032393A | 小口径超长距离曲线顶管工法 | 57 |
| 3 | US5632575A | Method and apparatus for controlled pumping of bentonite around a pipe jacked tunnel | 51 |
| 4 | JP2002276284A | Sleeve jacking method and pipe joint structure used for it | 48 |
| 5 | WO2022100346A1 | 一种富水砂层大直径顶管群进出洞加固结构及施工方法 | 42 |
| 6 | WO2017075742A1 | 高水条件下泥水平衡顶管机接收装置及工艺 | 42 |
| 7 | US20200291597A1 | Assembled recyclable rectangular working well with preset detachable door opening and construction method the… | 40 |
| 8 | CN105804758A | 浅覆土大断面小间距的矩形顶管上跨地铁隧道施工方法 | 37 |
| 9 | US6206109B1 | Apparatus and method for pilot-tube guided auger boring | 37 |
| 10 | GB2218166A | Jacking pipe seals | 37 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate references; treat them as a mark of historical influence on the field, not as a ranking of current technical value.
Patent titles are shown in the language they were filed in, not translated, so that each record stays verifiable against the original filing — a translated title will not match in Eureka or in any national register. Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns matter more than the raw counts: where claim density is highest, how fast the field is moving, and which classes remain comparatively open.
Leadership is spread thin
The leading assignee holds 44 records and the top 5 combined account for just 11.8% of all records in scope, with the tenth-ranked firm at only 15. That pattern points to a long tail of single-country or single-project filers rather than a small set of platform holders controlling the space.
Activity accelerated into 2024
Annual filings rose from 100 in 2021 to 175 in 2024, the last year that can be treated as complete given publication lag. Several of the most active named assignees show zero filings in the latest partial year, which is expected given the 18-month lag and should not be read as retreat from the field.
Hardware claims crowd the core
Shaft and tunnel support (E21D) and pipe fittings (F16L) each sit on roughly half the record set, meaning new mechanical claims in these classes face dense prior art. Process-control and monitoring classes such as G06F sit at only 4.0%, a comparatively open lane for software-driven alignment and jacking-force control claims.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to microtunnelling and pipe jacking, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and where the gaps sit
The ranked set spans construction contractors, pipe and tunnel-boring equipment makers, and water utilities, with Chinese state engineering groups and Japanese pipe manufacturers most visible among the ranked leaders.
No single controlling filer
The top assignee's 44 records, against 1,359 total, confirm that no company holds a blocking position across the field. Freedom-to-operate work needs to check the long tail rather than assume a small clearance list.
Collaboration is limited and localised
Only 10 co-assignee pairs appear in the dataset, the strongest linking two affiliated tunnel engineering entities at 10 shared records. Most filers appear to prosecute independently rather than through joint ventures.
Filing activity is China-centred
China accounts for 920 records at the receiving-office level, well ahead of Japan's 242 and the United States' 52. Firms scoping regional strategy should weight China prior art heavily before assuming a class is clear.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Kurimoto, Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Kubota Corporation | 0 | — |
| China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Vermeer Manufacturing Company | 0 | — |
| China Railway No. 4 Engineering Group Co., Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| TECTONA | 0 | — |
| Mekorot Water Company Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific follow-up work depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, white-space filing, or competitive tracking.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on shaft-support claims
With E21D and F16L each covering roughly half the record set, new mechanical filings in tunnel support or pipe-joint hardware should be checked against the dense prior art in those classes before drafting.
Search this claim space in EurekaScope a filing in process-control and monitoring
G06F and G01N remain comparatively thin relative to the mechanical classes, which may leave room for alignment-control software or joint-integrity sensing claims that pair with existing hardware.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the long tail of active filers
With the top 5 assignees holding only 11.8% of all 1,359 records, monitoring shifts among mid-ranked and single-filing entrants may surface new entrants before they scale.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaCommon questions on microtunnelling and pipe jacking patents
The dataset ranks 100 companies by patent family count, and the leading assignee holds 44 of the 1,359 records in scope. No single company dominates: the top 5 assignees combined hold only 11.8% of all records, and the tenth-ranked firm holds just 15. This is a fragmented field where filing activity is spread across construction contractors, equipment manufacturers and water utilities rather than concentrated in a few platform holders.
Yes, through the last complete year on record. Annual filings rose from 100 in 2021 to 175 in 2024, a +75% increase, with 2024 marking the peak year in the dataset. Filing counts for 2025 and 2026 appear lower only because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those later years are still filling in and should not be read as a slowdown.
The two largest IPC classes are E21D, covering shafts, tunnels and mine support, at 52.5% of the 1,359 records in scope, and F16L, covering pipes and pipe fittings, at 47.8%. Earth and rock drilling, foundation work and mine ventilation form a secondary tier. Digital process control and material testing classes are comparatively thin, suggesting most claim activity still centres on the mechanical hardware rather than on monitoring or analytics software.
China accounts for the largest share of receiving-office activity at 920 records, followed by Japan at 242 and the United States at 52, with the United Kingdom, Europe and Australia making up smaller remaining shares. This concentration reflects the scale of trenchless infrastructure construction underway in China rather than a claim that inventive activity originates there exclusively. Teams assessing regional freedom-to-operate should weight Chinese prior art accordingly.
US11242748B2 claims a tunneling apparatus for pipe jacking that combines an excavating head with a chain-blade cutter running on front and middle-section tracks, plus a rear jacking device mounted in a construction well. Its scope centres on the specific mechanical linkage between the track-mounted cutting assembly and the jacking device, not on pipe jacking methods generally. Designs using different cutter-drive arrangements or jacking mechanisms would need a claim-by-claim comparison rather than an assumption of blocking, since the patent's scope is defined by its specific structural elements.
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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.