CPC technology class · B23

B23F - Making Gears Or Toothed Racks

Making gears or toothed racks. 529 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

529
US patents granted: #8/9
in B23: 1.1%
B23 class share: -22%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Making Gears Or Toothed Racks ranks #536 of 670 CPC technology areas - 529 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 22% over five years.

#536
of 670 CPC technology areas: 529
US patents granted, 2015–2025: The Gleason Works
leading assignee (42): -22%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How B23F's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, B23F recorded 213 grants versus 272 in 2015–2019 (-22% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 64 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 30 (+113% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee THE Gleason Works holds 7.9% of the class ; the top three share 22.3%.

Leaderboard read

B23F concentration, lead at 7.9%

THE Gleason Works leads this historical grant record at 7.9% of B23F - foreign corporation assignees hold 79% of class grants (254 of 322). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 7.9%
Top three share: 22.3%
Lead over #2: 1

Where B23F sits inside B23

Among 9 subclasses in B23 (Machine TOOLS; Metal-working NOT Otherwise Provided FOR), B23F ranks #8 and holds 1.1% of the parent class's 47,646 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

B23K 21,060 B23P 8,569 B23Q 5,906 B23B 5,282 B23D 2,856 B23C 2,322 B23H 839 B23G 283

Rising assignees active in B23F

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 Präwema Antriebstechnik GmbH 2.50x 2 → 5 company-wide · 12 in B23F
#2 Felsomat GmbH & Co. KG 2.00x 1 → 2 company-wide · 5 in B23F
#3 Engineered Abrasives, Inc. 1.50x 2 → 3 company-wide · 5 in B23F
#4 Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Corp. 1.06x 136 → 144 company-wide · 16 in B23F
#5 Reishauer AG 1.00x 4 → 4 company-wide · 7 in B23F

B23F grants by year, peak 2019 (64)

US utility-patent grants per year in B23F, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 22% versus 2015–2019.

The Gleason Works

42
Liebherr-verzahntechni…

41
Klingelnberg

35
Gleason-pfauter…

24
Sandvik Intellectual…

17
Mitsubishi Heavy…

17
Sumitomo Electric…

16
Profilator & Kg

14
Präwema Antriebstechni…

12
American Axle &…

10
Niles Werkzeugmaschine…

9
Reishauer

7

What this shows The Gleason Works is the most active filer in B23F, holding 42 of the 529 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 B23F
Rank	Company	Patents in B23F
#1	THE Gleason Works	42
#2	Liebherr-verzahntechnik GMBH	41
#3	Klingelnberg GMBH	35
#4	Gleason-pfauter Maschinenfabrik GMBH	24
#5	Sandvik Intellectual Property AB	17
#6	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Machine Tool Co., Ltd.	17
#7	Sumitomo Electric Hardmetal Corp.	16
#8	Profilator GmbH & Co. KG	14
#9	Präwema Antriebstechnik GmbH	12
#10	American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc.	10
#11	Niles Werkzeugmaschinen GMBH	9
#12	Reishauer AG	7
#13	Kapp Werkzeugmaschinen GMBH	7
#14	Engineered Abrasives, Inc.	5
#15	Felsomat GmbH & Co. KG	5
#16	Tungaloy Corporation	4
#17	Sumitomo Electric Sintered Alloy, Ltd.	4
#18	Atlas Copco Airpower N.V.	4
#19	Samp S.P.A. CON Unico Socio	4
#20	Kapp Niles GMBH & Co. KG	4

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading B23F 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 B23F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B23F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near B23F's 529-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for B23F (#536 of 670 by volume ; lead share 7.9%) - not the B23 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

B41C 534 A63J 535 A41H 522 A46D 538

Nearest by lead-assignee share

B60H 8.0% F23M 7.9% F02F 7.9% G09F 7.9%

Questions about B23F

Which company holds the most patents in B23F?

THE Gleason Works leads B23F with 42 patents (7.9% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 79% of class grants.

Which B23F assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in B23F, Präwema Antriebstechnik GmbH shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (2.50x: 2 grants in 2019–2021 → 5 in 2022–2024) while holding 12 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does B23F compare inside parent class B23?

Inside B23 (Machine TOOLS; Metal-working NOT Otherwise Provided FOR), B23F ranks #8 of 9 subclasses by grant volume and holds 1.1% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is B23K (21,060 grants).

What to do with this data

B23F in context - here's where to go next.

THE Gleason Works leads B23F with 42 grants in this class. See full portfolio
B23F ranks #536 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class B23, the largest sibling subclass is B23K with 21,060 grants. Explore B23K

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

Methodology - B23F figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (529 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.