CPC technology class · B21

B21F - Working Or Processing Of Metal Wire

Working or processing of metal wire. 817 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

817
US patents granted: #6/9
in B21: 5.3%
B21 class share: +28%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Working Or Processing Of Metal Wire ranks #480 of 670 CPC technology areas - 817 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 28% over five years.

#480
of 670 CPC technology areas: 817
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Max
leading assignee (61): +28%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B21F's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B21F recorded 399 grants versus 312 in 2015–2019 (+28% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2023 at 94 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 55 (+71% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Max Co., Ltd. holds 7.5% of the class ; the top three share 11.5%.

Leaderboard read

B21F concentration, lead at 7.5%

Max Co., Ltd. leads this historical grant record at 7.5% of B21F - foreign corporation assignees hold 70% of class grants (289 of 413). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 7.5%
Top three share: 11.5%
Lead over #2: 43

Where B21F sits inside B21

Among 9 subclasses in B21 (Mechanical Metal-working Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal), B21F ranks #6 and holds 5.3% of the parent class's 15,472 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B21D 7,309 B21B 1,895 B21C 1,874 B21J 1,805 B21K 1,246 B21H 386 B21G 86 B21L 54

Rising assignees active in B21F

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 MBK Maschinenbau GmbH 4.00x 1 → 4 company-wide · 5 in B21F
#2 Spühl GmbH 3.50x 2 → 7 company-wide · 5 in B21F
#3 M.E.P. Macchine Elettroniche Piegatrici S. P.A. 2.60x 5 → 13 company-wide · 18 in B21F
#4 Wafios Aktiengesellschaft 2.00x 1 → 2 company-wide · 10 in B21F
#5 Max Co., Ltd. 1.54x 84 → 129 company-wide · 61 in B21F

B21F grants by year, peak 2023 (94)

US utility-patent grants per year in B21F, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 28% versus 2015–2019.

Max

61
M E P Macchine…

18
Nhk Spring

15
Medtronic Vascular

13
Komax Holding

12
Geobrugg

12
Wafios Aktiengesellsch…

10
L&P Property…

9
Böllhoff Verbindungste…

9
Gold Standard…

9
Cook Medical

8
Dignity Health

8

What this shows Max is the most active filer in B21F, holding 61 of the 817 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 B21F
Rank	Company	Patents in B21F
#1	Max Co., Ltd.	61
#2	M.E.P. Macchine Elettroniche Piegatrici S. P.A.	18
#3	NHK Spring Co., Ltd.	15
#4	Medtronic Vascular, Inc.	13
#5	Komax Holding AG	12
#6	Geobrugg AG	12
#7	Wafios Aktiengesellschaft	10
#8	L&P Property Management Company	9
#9	Böllhoff Verbindungstechnik GmbH	9
#10	Gold Standard Instruments, LLC	9
#11	Cook Medical Technologies LLC	8
#12	Dignity Health	8
#13	Fuji Shoji Co., Ltd.	8
#14	NV Bekaert SA	7
#15	Fuji Seiko Co., Ltd.	7
#16	MicroVention, Inc.	6
#17	Wubbers, LLC	6
#18	NuVasive, Inc.	5
#19	Bal Seal Engineering, LLC	5
#20	Spühl GmbH	5

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B21F 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 B21F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B21F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B21F's 817-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B21F (#480 of 670 by volume ; lead share 7.5%) - not the B21 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

F02G 812 G10D 828 B61F 797 B23H 839

Nearest by lead-assignee share

B27N 7.5% B82Y 7.5% C23C 7.4% B23D 7.4%

Questions about B21F

Which company holds the most patents in B21F?

Max Co., Ltd. leads B21F with 61 patents (7.5% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 70% of class grants.

Which B21F assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B21F, MBK Maschinenbau GmbH shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (4.00x: 1 grants in 2019–2021 → 4 in 2022–2024) while holding 5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B21F compare inside parent class B21?

Inside B21 (Mechanical Metal-working Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal), B21F ranks #6 of 9 subclasses by grant volume and holds 5.3% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B21D (7,309 grants).

What to do with this data

B21F in context - here's where to go next.

Max Co., Ltd. leads B21F with 61 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B21F ranks #480 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B21, the largest sibling subclass is B21D with 7,309 grants. Explore B21D

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

Methodology - B21F figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (817 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.