Monolithic Refractory Castable Patents: Filing Trends and Who Holds the Claim Space
Concentrated but not locked up. The top 5 assignees hold 142 of 432 records in scope (32.9%), and the top 10 hold 212 (49.1%) — leaving roughly half the field to a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants. Filings peaked at 5 in 2020 and have not exceeded that since. Across 2021 to 2024 — the window that can be treated as filing-complete given publication lag — volume held at 0% growth, meaning this is a steady, low-throughput filing area rather than one accelerating or contracting sharply.
- 1NORTH AMERICAN REFRACTORIES CO44
- 2CALDERYS FRANCE30
- 3HARBISON WALKER REFRACTORIES CO27
- 4DRESSER INDUSTRIES INC22
- 5IMERTECH SAS19
See the full monolithic refractory castables analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions on this landscape
How many patents exist for monolithic refractory castables?
This dataset identifies 432 published records in scope, filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, matched against terms covering deflocculant addition, explosive spalling, modulus of rupture, gunning installation, curing schedules and matrix bonding. That figure counts patent families rather than raw documents, which is the fairer unit since it neutralises multi-jurisdiction and continuation filings. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the true count for the most recent one to two years is understated at this cut-off.
Who are the leading patent holders in refractory castable technology?
The ranked leaders cover 100 companies, counted by record, with the top holder at 44 records against a fifth-place figure of 19 and a tenth-place figure of 12 — a clear drop-off marking real leadership rather than a crowded tie. The top 5 combined hold 32.9% of all 432 records and the top 10 hold 49.1%, meaning roughly half the field sits outside the leading group. This is not a top-50 or top-100 filer list in the conventional sense; it is the full ranked set the underlying data returns.
Is patent filing activity in this field growing or shrinking?
Filing activity has been flat rather than trending sharply in either direction. The field's peak year so far is 2020 at 5 filings, and across 2021 to 2024 — the most recent window that can be treated as filing-complete given publication lag — growth measured 0%. Years after 2024 will fill in as publications catch up, so treat any apparent drop-off right at the data cut-off as an artefact of lag, not a real decline.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Monolithic Refractory Castables covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.