Wire EDM Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
- 35.8% concentration at the top. The top five assignees hold 934 of 2,607 records in scope — a field with a defined leadership group rather than a diffuse crowd.
- Filing has pulled back sharply since 2021. Filings dropped from 101 in 2021 to 32 in 2024, a 68% decline over that three-year span, with 2019's peak of 149 well behind.
- One IPC class carries the field. B23H (electro/chemical machining) appears in 40.9% of the 2,607 records in scope — more than double the next largest class.
Filing growth compares 2021 (101 records) with 2024 (32) — 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 2,607 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
Wire electrical discharge machining (wire EDM) uses a thin, continuously fed wire electrode to erode a conductive workpiece through controlled electrical discharge, with wire breakage detection, flushing conditions, taper cutting and recast layer control as recurring points of claim activity. This landscape draws on 2,607 published records filed between 2015 and 2026 that reference these specific technical elements, rather than electrical discharge machining in general.
The scope pulls in a wider set of adjacent classes than the core machining art alone, including material analysis, surgical electrodes and semiconductor processing — a reminder that wire electrode and flushing-condition terminology recur outside pure metal-cutting contexts and should be read alongside the IPC composition below.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 2,607 records: how filing volume has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claim language actually sits in.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings ran from 83 in 2017 to a peak of 149 in 2019, then fell to 32 by 2024 — a 68% decline over 2021-2024. 2025 and 2026 figures are still filling in given the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, so the most recent bars understate actual filing activity.
IPC subclass composition
B23H (electro/chemical machining) covers 40.9% of the 2,607 records in scope, with B23K (welding, soldering & brazing) at 15.7% and G01N (material analysis & testing) at 12.2%. A61B (diagnosis & surgery) at 11.2% and H01L (semiconductor devices) at 3.4% reflect the adjacent-art pull described above. Records can carry multiple classes, so these shares add up to more than 100%.
Shares are the percentage of the 2,607 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Wire Electrical Discharge Machining with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about wire electrical discharge machining and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Wire electrical discharge machine and machining condition adjustment method (US20190381589A1)
A wire electrical discharge machine for performing electrical discharge machining on a workpiece by applying voltage to an electrode gap formed between a wire electrode and the workpiece under predetermined machining conditions while conveying the wire electrode along a transfer path, including a wire breakage detector, a position calculator for the breakage position within the transfer path, and an adjustment unit that adjusts machining conditions when the breakage falls within a predetermined section of the path.Filed by Fanuc, published 2019-12-19 — illustrates the field's recurring focus on wire breakage detection tied to transfer-path position rather than breakage alone.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5593852A | Subcutaneous glucose electrode | 2,652 |
| 2 | US7366556B2 | Dual electrode system for a continuous analyte sensor | 1,092 |
| 3 | US20090099436A1 | Dual electrode system for a continuous analyte sensor | 1,073 |
| 4 | US20020042090A1 | Subcutaneous glucose electrode | 1,067 |
| 5 | US7467003B2 | Dual electrode system for a continuous analyte sensor | 1,052 |
| 6 | US7460898B2 | Dual electrode system for a continuous analyte sensor | 1,047 |
| 7 | US7424318B2 | Dual electrode system for a continuous analyte sensor | 1,031 |
| 8 | US20030134347A1 | Subcutaneous glucose electrode | 1,024 |
| 9 | US20090076356A1 | Dual electrode system for a continuous analyte sensor | 989 |
| 10 | US20080083617A1 | Dual electrode system for a continuous analyte sensor | 955 |
Citation counts favour older records that have had more time to accumulate citations within the searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence, not of current technical relevance.
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Browse MCP servers →What the numbers mean for a filing decision
Three patterns worth acting on before drafting or freedom-to-operate work in this space.
Leadership is defined but not dominant
Five assignees hold more than a third of all records in scope, and the top ten extend that to 46.6%. That still leaves over half the field to a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants, so a freedom-to-operate search cannot stop at the leading names.
Volume has pulled back from its 2019 peak
Filings peaked at 149 in 2019 and fell to 32 by 2024, a 68% decline over that three-year span. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, 2025-2026 figures are not yet reliable evidence of a continued slowdown.
Core machining claims still dominate the class mix
B23H carries more than double the share of the next largest class, B23K at 15.7%. Smaller classes such as C23C (coating & surface deposition) at 2.3% and G05B (control systems) at 3.0% point to where claim density is thinner rather than absent.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to wire electrical discharge machining, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where the field is still open
The ranked leaders span established EDM equipment makers alongside firms whose activity in this dataset comes from adjacent electrode or sensor art.
One filer sits well ahead of the field
The leading assignee's record count is nearly three times that of the fifth-placed filer (83), signalling a sustained, focused filing programme rather than a single burst of activity.
Leading filers show no latest-year activity
Several of the top-ranked assignees show zero records in the most recent year, including year-over-year drops of -100% for two of them. Given the publication lag, this reads as a data-completeness gap for 2025-2026 rather than a confirmed exit from the field.
Co-filing is limited and concentrated
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, with the strongest pairing linked to a single corporate family. This is a field of largely independent filers rather than joint-development programmes.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Illinois Tool Works Inc. | 0 | -100% |
| Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | 0 | — |
| Fanuc Corporation | 0 | — |
| INOUE JAPAX RES INC | 0 | — |
| Eximis Surgical LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Sodick Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| Dexcom, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Agie Charmilles SA | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a field with a defined leadership group, a cooling filing rate, and several narrow branches still open for claims.
Run a freedom-to-operate check on the leading assignee's family
With 254 records, the leader's portfolio needs mapping claim-by-claim before drafting into flushing condition or wire breakage detection.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTrack whether the 2021-2024 pullback continues
The -68% filing change over that span is confirmed; whether 2025-2026 extends or reverses it will only become clear as publication catches up.
Set up filing trend alerts in EurekaDraft into the thinner IPC branches
C23C and G05B carry far lower record shares than B23H, suggesting narrower prior art to design around in coating and control-loop claims.
Search white space in EurekaFrequently asked questions
One assignee leads the ranked field with 254 records, well ahead of the fifth-placed filer at 83. The top five assignees together hold 934 of the 2,607 records in scope, or 35.8%, and the top ten extend that to 46.6%. That still leaves more than half the field distributed across a long tail of smaller filers, so leadership is concentrated but not exclusive.
Filing volume fell from a peak of 149 records in 2019 to 32 in 2024, a 68% decline over the 2021-2024 span. That trend is based on complete data through 2024. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 are not yet reliable evidence of a continued slowdown — they will rise as more filings publish.
B23H, the core electro/chemical machining classification, appears in 40.9% of the 2,607 records in scope, more than double the next largest class, B23K (welding, soldering & brazing) at 15.7%. G01N (material analysis and testing) and A61B (diagnosis and surgery) also carry meaningful shares, reflecting adjacent uses of wire electrode and flushing-condition terminology outside pure metal-cutting contexts. Records often carry more than one class, so these shares overlap rather than sum to 100%.
This Fanuc filing, published 2019-12-19, claims a wire electrical discharge machine that detects wire breakage, calculates the breakage position along the wire's transfer path, and adjusts machining conditions specifically when the breakage falls within a predetermined section of that path. The scope is narrower than breakage detection generally — it is tied to position-dependent condition adjustment. Anyone building a breakage-response system should check whether their trigger logic depends on transfer-path position in the same way.
Coating and surface-deposition claims (C23C) and control-system claims (G05B) each cover under 3.5% of the 2,607 records in scope, far below the 40.9% carried by core machining claims under B23H. Sub-areas such as coated wire electrode composition, corner accuracy compensation and control-loop breakage prediction show visibly thinner filing density. That does not mean these areas are technically easy, only that fewer claims currently occupy them.
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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.