Pipe Handling & Racking Automation Patents: Leaders & Gaps 2026
Pipe Handling and Racking Automation Patents: Who Leads and Where the Claims Sit
Concentrated at the top. The five leading assignees hold 61.1% of all 303 records in scope, and the leading ten hold 86.5% — a field with little room left for a generic pipe-handling claim. Filings rose to a peak of 23 records in 2019, then declined; the 2021-to-2024 window (the last year treatable as complete) shows a 60% drop, from 10 to 4 records. Years after 2024 are still filling in and should not be read as a continued fall.
- 1T&T ENGINEERING SERVICES INC58
- 2ITREC BV41
- 3NAT OILWELL VARCO LP34
- 4FRANKS INT31
- 5FRIEDE & GOLDMAN UNITED BV21
See the full pipe handling and racking automation 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 pipe handling and racking automation patents
Who holds the most patents in pipe handling and racking automation?
One assignee leads the field with 58 records out of 303 in scope, noticeably ahead of the rest of the ranked leaders — fifth place holds 21 records and tenth place holds 13. The top five assignees combined account for 61.1% of all 303 records, and the top ten account for 86.5%, so the field is concentrated rather than fragmented. A newcomer should expect to file against dense prior art from a small group of established players rather than into open territory.
Is patent filing in this space growing or slowing down?
Filing activity peaked at 23 records in 2019 and has since declined; between 2021 (10 records) and 2024 (4 records) — the most recent year that can be treated as complete — filings fell 60%. Years after 2024 look lower still in the raw data, but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication rather than an actual drop in activity. Treat the 2021-to-2024 window as the reliable read on recent momentum.
What does US9121235B2 actually cover?
US9121235B2, assigned to T&T Engineering Services and dated 2015-09-01, covers a retrofit-capable pipe stand building and racking system: a horizontal-to-vertical delivery machine that feeds pipe sections to rig-mounted elevators, which translate the pipe vertically, with a power tong making and breaking connections and a drill-floor racking system receiving the finished stand. It is one of the more cited records in this dataset and is representative of the leading assignee’s approach of retrofitting automation onto existing rigs rather than requiring a new-build rig. Anyone designing a similar horizontal-to-vertical handling sequence should review its claim scope closely.
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 Pipe Handling and Racking Automation 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.