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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 filing trajectory.

529
US patents granted
B23
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
-15%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Making Gears OR Toothed Racks ranks #536 of 670 CPC technology areas - 529 US patents granted since 2015, with filing down 15% over five years.

#536
of 670 CPC technology areas
529
US patents granted, 2015–2025
The Gleason Works
leading assignee (42)
-15%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: THE Gleason Works (42 patents)

CPC subclass B23F - MAKING GEARS OR TOOTHED RACKS - covers 529 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class B23 (MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in B23F is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. THE Gleason Works leads with 42 patents, followed by Liebherr-verzahntechnik Gmbh at 41 grants and Klingelnberg Gmbh at 35.

Filing activity in B23F is down 15% over the past five years versus 2015-2019, a relatively steady filing pace. All counts come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.

Is B23F innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in B23F, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 15% versus 2015–2019.

10203040506070 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 19

Who leads B23F?

The 12 most active assignees in MAKING GEARS OR TOOTHED RACKS - wider bars mean more grants

patents

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.

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

About This Class

CPC subclass B23F belongs to class B23.

529 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 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).

Top 14 B23F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B23F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 051015202530 01020304050 Patents in B23F Avg claims / patent (company-wide) The Gleason WorksLiebherr-verzahntechn…KlingelnbergGleason-pfauter Masch…Sandvik Intellectual…Mitsubishi Heavy Indu…Sumitomo Electric Har…Profilator & KgPräwema Antriebstechn…American Axle & Manuf…Niles Werkzeugmaschin…ReishauerKapp WerkzeugmaschinenEngineered Abrasives
Top 14 B23F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in B23F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class B23F?
CPC subclass B23F covers MAKING GEARS OR TOOTHED RACKS. It belongs to CPC class B23 (MACHINE TOOLS; METAL-WORKING NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR), with 529 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in B23F?
529 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass B23F between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in B23F?
THE Gleason Works leads B23F with 42 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for B23F 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., B23) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like B23F 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.