PlainPatent

CPC technology class · E02

E02F - Dredging

Dredging; soil-shifting. 7,816 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

7,816
US patents granted
E02
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+24%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Dredging ranks #197 of 670 CPC technology areas - 7,816 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 24% over five years.

#197
of 670 CPC technology areas
7,816
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Caterpillar
leading assignee (1,041)
+24%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Caterpillar Inc. (1,041 patents)

CPC subclass E02F - DREDGING; SOIL-SHIFTING - covers 7,816 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class E02 (HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in E02F is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Caterpillar Inc. leads with 1,041 patents, followed by Komatsu Ltd. at 910 grants and Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. at 595.

Filing activity in E02F is up 24% 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 E02F innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in E02F, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 24% versus 2015–2019.

600700800900 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 628

Who leads E02F?

The 12 most active assignees in DREDGING; SOIL-SHIFTING - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Caterpillar is the most active filer in E02F, holding 1,041 of the 7,816 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 E02F
Rank Company Patents in E02F
#1 Caterpillar Inc. 1,041
#2 Komatsu Ltd. 910
#3 Hitachi Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. 595
#4 Deere & Company 487
#5 Kubota Corporation 320
#6 Kobelco Construction Machinery Co., Ltd 250
#7 Volvo Construction Equipment AB 198
#8 CNH Industrial America Llc 178
#9 Sumitomo Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. 167
#10 Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. 122
#11 Caterpillar SARL 116
#12 Doosan Infracore Co., Ltd. 107
#13 Clark Equipment Company 76
#14 Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha 69
#15 Harnischfeger Technologies, Inc. 68
#16 Joy Global Surface Mining Inc 65
#17 ESCO Group Llc 61
#18 Yanmar Holdings Co., Ltd. 55
#19 Hitachi Construction Machinery Tierra Co., Ltd. 55
#20 Caterpillar Global Mining Llc 54

About This Class

CPC subclass E02F belongs to class E02.

7,816 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 E02F 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 E02F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in E02F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 E02F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in E02F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 5101520 050010001500 Patents in E02F Avg claims / patent (company-wide) CaterpillarKomatsuHitachi Construction…Deere &KubotaKobelco Construction…Volvo Construction Eq…Cnh Industrial AmericaSumitomo Construction…Sumitomo Heavy Indust…Caterpillar SarlDoosan InfracoreClark EquipmentKawasaki Jukogyo
Top 14 E02F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in E02F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class E02F?
CPC subclass E02F covers DREDGING; SOIL-SHIFTING. It belongs to CPC class E02 (HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING), with 7,816 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in E02F?
7,816 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass E02F between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in E02F?
Caterpillar Inc. leads E02F with 1,041 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for E02F 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., E02) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like E02F 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.