PlainPatent

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 filing trajectory.

538
US patents granted
A46
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+39%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Manufacture OF Brushes ranks #533 of 670 CPC technology areas - 538 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 39% over five years.

#533
of 670 CPC technology areas
538
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Colgate-palmolive
leading assignee (69)
+39%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Colgate-palmolive Company (69 patents)

CPC subclass A46D - MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES - covers 538 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class A46 (BRUSHWARE). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in A46D is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Colgate-palmolive Company leads with 69 patents, followed by Trisa Holding Ag at 26 grants and The Gillette Company Llc at 14.

Filing activity in A46D is up 39% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a sharp acceleration suggesting an emerging or fast-moving technology area. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is A46D innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in A46D, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 39% versus 2015–2019.

20304050607080 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 32

Who leads A46D?

The 12 most active assignees in MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES - wider bars mean more grants

patents

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.

Source USPTO PatentsView, granted utility patents As of 2015–2025 grant years
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

About This Class

CPC subclass A46D belongs to class A46.

538 patents were granted in this class between 2015 and 2025.

20 companies actively patent in this space.

Classification System

Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) is a hierarchical patent classification system used by the USPTO and EPO.

← All Technology Classes Technology Rankings →

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).

Top 14 A46D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in A46D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 0510152025 020406080 Patents in A46D Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Colgate-palmoliveTrisa HoldingThe GilletteZahoranskyThe BraunGekaAlbea ServicesIdevAnisa InternationalKobayashi Pharmaceuti…M+C SchifferSanderson MacleodSunstar SuisseBissell
Top 14 A46D assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in A46D. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class A46D?
CPC subclass A46D covers MANUFACTURE OF BRUSHES. It belongs to CPC class A46 (BRUSHWARE), with 538 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in A46D?
538 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass A46D between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in A46D?
Colgate-palmolive Company leads A46D with 69 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for A46D collected?
Patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It covers all US granted utility patents and assigns CPC codes based on the technology described in each patent.
What is the difference between CPC class and subclass?
A CPC class (e.g., A46) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like A46D provide finer granularity within that category. PlainPatent organizes data at the subclass level (4-character codes) for the most useful view of technology domains.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent Editorial

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.