Top Drives and Rotary Systems Patents: Who Leads 2026
Top Drives and Rotary Systems Patents: Filing Trends and Leading Assignees
Top 5 hold 40.6% of the field. 908 of 2,234 records sit with the five leading assignees, with a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants behind them. Filings ran from 73 in 2017 to a peak of 87 in 2018, then declined toward 21 by 2024 — a 60% drop across that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the apparent tail-off in the newest years should not be read as the field's current pace.
- 1WEATHERFORD TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS LLC14.5%
- 2NAT OILWELL VARCO LP10.8%
- 3HALLIBURTON ENERGY SERVICES INC6.4%
- 4MAKO RENTALS INC4.7%
- 5VARCO I P INC4.2%
See the full top drives and rotary systems 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 about this landscape
Who holds the most patents on top drive and rotary system technology?
One assignee leads with 325 records, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 93. The top five combined account for 908 of the 2,234 records in scope, or 40.6% of the field, which means a small number of companies control a large share of the claim space around top drive and rotary table mechanisms. Beyond the top ten, holdings drop off quickly into a long tail of smaller filers, so due diligence should prioritise the leading group first.
Is patent filing activity in top drive technology increasing or slowing down?
Filings peaked at 87 in 2018 and had fallen to 21 by 2024, a 60% decline across that three-year span. That said, patent publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the years closest to the present in this dataset are undercounted and should not yet be read as a continuing decline. A fair reading is that the field cooled meaningfully from its 2018 peak through the last complete filing year.
What does US20240401435A1 cover and who owns it?
US20240401435A1 is a Schlumberger Technology Corporation filing published 2024-12-05 covering a top drive handling ring assembly with an internal blowout preventer (IBOP) valve actuated by a two-piece sleeve and hydraulic cylinder, monitored through wireless encoders on crank assemblies. It represents the kind of condition-monitoring layer being added to established mechanical IBOP actuation hardware. Anyone designing a similar sensor-equipped actuator sleeve for an IBOP valve should review its claim scope directly.
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 Top Drives and Rotary Systems 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.