CPC technology class · A46

A46D - Manufacture Of Brushes

Manufacture of brushes. 538 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

538
US patents granted: #2/2
in A46: 15.2%
A46 class share: +24%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Manufacture Of Brushes ranks #533 of 670 CPC technology areas - 538 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 24% over five years.

#533
of 670 CPC technology areas: 538
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Colgate-palmolive
leading assignee (69): +24%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How A46D's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, A46D recorded 276 grants versus 222 in 2015–2019 (+24% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 74 grants and bottomed in 2018 at 31 (+139% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Colgate-Palmolive Company holds 12.8% of the class ; the top three share 20.3%.

Leaderboard read

A46D concentration, lead at 12.8%

Colgate-Palmolive Company leads this historical grant record at 12.8% of A46D - us corporation assignees hold 57% of class grants (185 of 322). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 12.8%
Top three share: 20.3%
Lead over #2: 43

Where A46D sits inside A46

Among 2 subclasses in A46 (Brushware), A46D ranks #2 and holds 15.2% of the parent class's 3,535 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

A46B 2,997

Rising assignees active in A46D

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 Sanderson Macleod, Inc. 4.00x 1 → 4 company-wide · 6 in A46D
#2 Zahoransky AG 3.00x 2 → 6 company-wide · 14 in A46D
#3 Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. 1.63x 27 → 44 company-wide · 7 in A46D
#4 Geka GmbH 1.60x 5 → 8 company-wide · 11 in A46D
#5 The Gillette Company LLC 1.32x 213 → 282 company-wide · 14 in A46D

A46D grants by year, peak 2020 (74)

US utility-patent grants per year in A46D, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 24% versus 2015–2019.

Colgate-palmolive

69
Trisa Holding

26
The Gillette

14
Zahoransky

14
The Braun

11
Geka

11
Albea Services

10
Idev

10
Anisa International

8
Kobayashi Pharmaceutic…

7
M+C Schiffer

6
Sanderson Macleod

6

What this shows Colgate-palmolive is the most active filer in A46D, holding 69 of the 538 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass A46D
Rank	Company	Patents in A46D
#1	Colgate-Palmolive Company	69
#2	Trisa Holding AG	26
#3	The Gillette Company LLC	14
#4	Zahoransky AG	14
#5	The Braun Corporation	11
#6	Geka GmbH	11
#7	Albea Services	10
#8	IDev Technologies, Inc.	10
#9	Anisa International, Inc.	8
#10	Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.	7
#11	M+C Schiffer GmbH	6
#12	Sanderson Macleod, Inc.	6
#13	Sunstar Suisse SA	5
#14	Bissell Inc.	4
#15	Tangle Teezer Limited	4
#16	Brushtech, Inc.	4
#17	ZeroBrush, Inc.	4
#18	GUY A. Shaked Investments Ltd.	4
#19	ELC Management LLC	3
#20	Weber-Stephen Products LLC	3

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading A46D assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 A46D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in A46D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near A46D's 538-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for A46D (#533 of 670 by volume ; lead share 12.8%) - not the A46 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

A63J 535 B41C 534 D05C 545 A21B 546

Nearest by lead-assignee share

F02K 12.8% A46B 12.7% B25F 12.7% H03B 12.7%

Questions about A46D

Which company holds the most patents in A46D?

Colgate-Palmolive Company leads A46D with 69 patents (12.8% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 57% of class grants.

Which A46D assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in A46D, Sanderson Macleod, Inc. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (4.00x: 1 grants in 2019–2021 → 4 in 2022–2024) while holding 6 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does A46D compare inside parent class A46?

Inside A46 (Brushware), A46D ranks #2 of 2 subclasses by grant volume and holds 15.2% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is A46B (2,997 grants).

What to do with this data

A46D in context - here's where to go next.

Colgate-Palmolive Company leads A46D with 69 grants in this class. See full portfolio
A46D ranks #533 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class A46, the largest sibling subclass is A46B with 2,997 grants. Explore A46B

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - A46D figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (538 grants in the tracked window).

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.