PlainPatent

CPC technology class · B21

B21G - Making Needles

Making needles, pins or nails of metal. 86 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

86
US patents granted
#8/9
in B21
0.6%
B21 class share
+26%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Making Needles ranks #626 of 670 CPC technology areas - 86 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 26% over five years.

#626
of 670 CPC technology areas
86
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Ethicon
leading assignee (11)
+26%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B21G's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B21G recorded 43 grants versus 34 in 2015–2019 (+26% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 12 grants and bottomed in 2018 at 2 (+500% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee DL Technology, LLC. holds 7.0% of the class ; the top three share 14.0%.

Leaderboard read

B21G concentration, lead at 7.0%

DL Technology, LLC. leads this historical grant record at 7.0% of B21G - foreign corporation assignees hold 60% of class grants (12 of 20). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
7.0%

6 of 86 grants

Top three share
14.0%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
2

more grants than Enkotec A/S

Where B21G sits inside B21

Among 9 subclasses in B21 (Mechanical Metal-working Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal), B21G ranks #8 and holds 0.6% 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 B21F 817 B21H 386 B21L 54

Rising assignees active in B21G

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. #1 DL Technology, LLC. 1.80x 5 → 9 company-wide · 6 in B21G

B21G grants by year, peak 2020 (12)

US utility-patent grants per year in B21G, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 26% versus 2015–2019.

051015 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 6

Who leads B21G?

The 12 most active assignees in Making Needles, Pins OR Nails OF Metal - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Ethicon is the most active filer in B21G, holding 11 of the 86 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 B21G
Rank Company Patents in B21G
#1 DL Technology, LLC. 6
#2 Enkotec A/S 4
#3 Groz-beckert KG 2
#4 Mani, Inc. 2
#5 Tung Hing Plastic Manufactory Limited 2
#6 Cardica, Inc. 1
#7 Stanley Fastening Systems, L.P. 1
#8 B&L Biotech, Inc. 1
#9 Suturion AB 1

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B21G 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 9 B21G assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B21G. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 9 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 05101520 02468 Patents in B21G Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Dl TechnologyEnkotec A/SGroz-beckert KgManiTung Hing Plastic…CardicaStanley Fastening…B&L BiotechSuturion Ab
Top 9 B21G assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B21G. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Questions about B21G

Which company holds the most patents in B21G?
Ethicon, Inc. leads B21G with 11 patents (7.0% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 60% of class grants.
Which B21G assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B21G, DL Technology, LLC. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (1.80x: 5 grants in 2019–2021 → 9 in 2022–2024) while holding 6 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does B21G compare inside parent class B21?
Inside B21 (Mechanical Metal-working Without Essentially Removing MATERIAL; Punching Metal), B21G ranks #8 of 9 subclasses by grant volume and holds 0.6% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B21D (7,309 grants).

What to do with this data

B21G in context - here's where to go next.

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

Methodology - B21G figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (86 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.