Vacuum Suction Cups and Grippers Patents: Leaders & White Space 2026
- 48.5% concentration. The top 5 of 22 ranked assignees account for 16 of 33 records in scope, but the leader holds only 6 — this is a crowded field, not a single-owner one.
- Filing peaked in 2020. Nine records published that year against a 2021-to-2024 trend that reads as -100%, though 2025 onward is still filling in under the usual 18-month publication lag.
- Conveying and hand-tool classes dominate. B65G and B25B together touch more than half the records in scope, while semiconductor-specific handling (H01L) sits at just 12.1%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (6 records) with 2024 (0) — 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 33 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Vacuum suction cups and vacuum grippers span a search string built around bellows geometry, sealing lip material, holding force, porous workpiece handling, cycle wear and quick change mount claims. The 33 records in scope are drawn from filings between 2015 and the 2026-07-31 cut-off, giving a compact but technically specific slice of end-of-arm tooling and material-handling patents rather than the broader vacuum-technology category.
Most records route through the United States receiving office, with smaller counts through China, WIPO's PCT system, the EPO, Japan and Singapore. That distribution points to a field where US filing strategy dominates prosecution decisions, with multi-jurisdiction filing still the exception rather than the rule.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Annual filing counts and IPC subclass shares for the 33 records in scope, covering the full 2015-2026 window with the most recent year understated by publication lag.
Filing activity by year
Filings rose to a peak of 9 records in 2020, then declined through 2021-2024, where the trend reads as a -100% change over that three-year span; the 2025-2026 figures are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months.
IPC subclass composition
B65G (conveying and material handling) leads at 30.3% of the 33 records, followed by B25B (hand tools) at 24.2% and B25J (manipulators and robots) at 18.2%. Printing-related classes B41N and B41F and the fastener class F16B each sit at 12-15%, and semiconductor handling under H01L holds a steady 12.1% — a reminder that these shares overlap because records can carry multiple classes.
Shares are the percentage of the 33 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Vacuum Suction Cups and Grippers with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about vacuum suction cups and grippers and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Method for producing a vacuum gripper for semiconductor workpieces, and vacuum gripper (US20230278111A1)
A vacuum gripper for semiconductor workpieces is produced from at least one base material by means of an additive manufacturing method such as 3D printing. The method may also include printing various other features of the vacuum gripper such as reinforcing structures and seals. The gripper may include a plurality of suction openings and corresponding channels for providing a negative pressure when cooperating with a vacuum.Filed by Siltronic AG, published 2023-09-07.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20120274011A1 | Vacuum-gripper | 23 |
| 2 | US20060088625A1 | Vacuum gripper for handling small components | 20 |
| 3 | US20190247983A1 | Apparatus and method for holding a workpiece | 15 |
| 4 | US3147017A | Vacuum gripper | 14 |
| 5 | US7207430B2 | Vacuum gripper for handling small components | 13 |
| 6 | WO2020229054A1 | Transport system and method for printing plates | 10 |
| 7 | US9266686B2 | Vacuum gripper | 8 |
| 8 | US20220055393A1 | Transport system and method for printing plates | 7 |
| 9 | CN215364783U | 一种液压升降机稳定支撑机构 | 5 |
| 10 | GB984957A | Vacuum gripper | 4 |
Citation counts reflect influence within this searched corpus and skew toward older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial relevance.
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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Browse MCP servers →What the data means for filing strategy
Three patterns stand out once the counts are read against the denominators they actually apply to.
No single owner controls the field
The top 5 of 22 ranked assignees hold 16 of 33 records — 48.5% — but the leader alone accounts for just 6. That combination of moderate concentration with a low individual ceiling means freedom-to-operate work has to check a spread of holders rather than a single dominant portfolio.
Peak filing has passed, current levels are unclear
2020 was the peak year at 9 records, and the 2021-to-2024 span reads as a full retreat to zero on the data available. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the 2025-2026 figures cannot yet be read as confirming that decline continues.
Material-handling claims outweigh robotics-specific ones
B65G conveying claims and B25B hand-tool claims together touch a majority of records, while B25J manipulator/robot claims sit at 18.2% and semiconductor-specific H01L claims at only 12.1%. Claim space in general material handling is more occupied than in robotics-native or semiconductor-native framing.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to vacuum suction cups and grippers, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the gaps sit
22 assignees appear in the ranking behind these 33 records — this is the complete ranked list the dataset returns, not a top-50 or top-100 cut.
The largest single holder still leaves most of the field open
The leading assignee holds 6 of 33 records. That is well short of a blocking position, and the presence of a long tail down to single-filing entrants at the tenth position and beyond confirms this is a field built from many narrow claims rather than one broad platform.
Collaboration is limited and clustered
Only 3 co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, each tied to the same small cluster of individual and corporate filers. That points to mostly independent prosecution rather than joint development programmes as the norm in this space.
Recent-year activity has gone quiet across the leaders
The assignees with recent-year momentum data all show 0 filings in the latest tracked year. Combined with the publication lag, this reads as a data gap to watch rather than a confirmed pullback by any of these holders.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Esko Graphics Imaging | 0 | — |
| Delaware Capital Formation Inc | 0 | — |
| Zimmermann & Schilp Handhabungstechnik | 0 | — |
| Siltronic AG | 0 | — |
| The Boeing Company | 0 | — |
| Xerox Corporation | 0 | — |
| Amazon Technologies, Inc. | 0 | — |
| VIBCO INC | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The counts above answer what has already been filed. Turning that into a filing or freedom-to-operate decision means going deeper into specific claims and specific holders.
Map claims against your own bellows or sealing design
Run your specific geometry or sealing lip material through a full-text claim search rather than relying on the class-level shares here.
Explore in Eureka →Track the leading holder's portfolio directly
With the top assignee holding only 6 of 33 records, check whether recent continuations or new filings have moved that position since this cut-off.
Explore in Eureka →Watch the white space chips for new entrants
Under-claimed branches like quick-change mount standardisation are exactly where a new filer can still stake a broad first claim.
Explore in Eureka →Common questions about this landscape
The dataset ranks 22 assignees behind the 33 records in scope, and the leading holder accounts for 6 of them. The top 5 combined hold 16 records, 48.5% of the total, but no single company approaches a dominant or blocking position. This is a fragmented field with a long tail of entrants that file only once or twice, so competitive tracking needs to cover several holders rather than one incumbent.
Filings peaked at 9 records in 2020 and the 2021-to-2024 span reads as a full decline to zero, a -100% change over that period. However, patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in this dataset are still incomplete and should not be read as confirming a continued drop. A clearer read on current momentum will only be possible once those later years finish publishing.
By IPC subclass, B65G (conveying and material handling) covers 30.3% of the 33 records and B25B (hand tools) covers 24.2%, making general material-handling claims the most occupied territory. B25J (manipulators and robots) sits lower at 18.2%, and semiconductor-specific handling under H01L holds just 12.1%. Because a single record can carry several IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read as overlapping claim density, not as mutually exclusive categories.
US20230278111A1 is a Siltronic AG filing, published 2023-09-07, describing a vacuum gripper for semiconductor workpieces produced by additive manufacturing such as 3D printing. The method extends to printing structural features like reinforcing structures and seals directly into the gripper body, alongside suction openings and channels for delivering negative pressure. Anyone designing a 3D-printed or additively manufactured gripper for wafer or semiconductor handling should review this filing's claim scope before finalising a build method.
Semiconductor-specific vacuum channel design and additively manufactured gripper bodies both sit at the lower end of the technology composition data, with H01L claims covering only 12.1% of records against 30.3% for general conveying claims. Quick-change mount standardisation and cycle-wear-resistant bellows geometry are named directly in the search criteria but are not concentrated under any single dominant holder. These are the branches where a well-drafted first claim still has room, rather than territory already staked out by the leading assignees.
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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.