Submerged Entry Nozzle Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Submerged Entry Nozzle and Flow Control Patents
61.0% concentration. The top 5 of 52 ranked assignees hold 141 of 231 records in scope — a field where a handful of refractory and steel majors have occupied most of the claim space. Filings peaked at 26 in 2017. The 2021-to-2024 span, the most recent window that can be read as complete, fell 50% (2 to 1) — 2025 and 2026 counts are still incomplete because publication trails filing by roughly 18 months, so that recent drop should not be read as the field cooling.
- 1ABB (SCHWEIZ) AG53
- 2ARCELORMITTAL SA37
- 3VESUVIUS CRUCIBLE CO20
- 4POHANG IRON & STEEL CO LTD19
- 5NUCOR CORP12
See the full submerged entry nozzle and flow control 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
Who are the leading patent holders in submerged entry nozzle technology?
The dataset ranks 52 assignees, and the top 5 together hold 141 of the 231 records in scope, or 61.0%. That group mixes integrated steel producers with refractory and flow-control equipment specialists, since nozzle and stopper-rod patents typically sit at the boundary between steelmaking operations and materials supply. The gap between fifth place (12 records) and tenth place (8 records) marks where the field thins into a long tail of smaller filers.
Is patent filing in this field growing or slowing down?
Filing peaked in 2017 at 26 records and the most recent complete window, 2021 to 2024, shows a 50% decline from 2 to 1 record. However, 2025 and 2026 figures are not yet reliable indicators because patent publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the true recent trend is understated in any dataset cut off this close to the present. Treat the 2021-2024 figure as the most defensible recent signal, not the 2025-2026 numbers.
What does US6016941A actually cover, and does it block new nozzle designs?
US6016941A, filed by International Steel Group Inc. and published in 2000, claims a submerged entry nozzle with a central bore terminating in an upwardly dish-shaped bottom surface and two transverse exit ports that direct molten steel outward and upward. Any nozzle design using that specific dish-shaped bottom geometry combined with dual transverse exit ports sits close to this claim and needs a design-around review. It does not block nozzle designs built on different bore-termination geometries or single-port configurations, which is where much of the surrounding art has clustered.
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 Submerged Entry Nozzle and Flow Control 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.