PlainPatent

CPC technology class · F01

F01C - Rotary-piston OR Oscillating-piston Machines OR Engines

Rotary-piston or oscillating-piston machines or engines. 1,662 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

1,662
US patents granted
F01
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+3%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Rotary-piston OR Oscillating-piston Machines OR Engines ranks #390 of 670 CPC technology areas - 1,662 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 3% over five years.

#390
of 670 CPC technology areas
1,662
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Pratt & Whitney Canada
leading assignee (129)
+3%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. (129 patents)

CPC subclass F01C - ROTARY-PISTON OR OSCILLATING-PISTON MACHINES OR ENGINES - covers 1,662 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class F01 (MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in F01C is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. leads with 129 patents, followed by Emerson Climate Technologies, Inc. at 41 grants and Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd. at 32.

Filing activity in F01C is up 3% 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 F01C innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in F01C, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 3% versus 2015–2019.

50100150200 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 63

Who leads F01C?

The 12 most active assignees in ROTARY-PISTON OR OSCILLATING-PISTON MACHINES OR ENGINES - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Pratt & Whitney Canada is the most active filer in F01C, holding 129 of the 1,662 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 F01C
Rank Company Patents in F01C
#1 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. 129
#2 Emerson Climate Technologies, Inc. 41
#3 Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd. 32
#4 Showa Corporation 21
#5 Trane International Inc. 20
#6 Edwards Limited 20
#7 Bitzer Kühlmaschinenbau Gmbh 20
#8 Schwäbische Hüttenwerke Automotive Gmbh 19
#9 GREE Electric Appliances, Inc. OF Zhuhai 15
#10 Gree Green Refrigeration Technology Center Co., Ltd. Of Zhuhai 15
#11 KYB Corporation 14
#12 Atlas Copco Airpower, Naamloze Vennootschap 14
#13 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Thermal Systems, Ltd. 12
#14 Calsonic Kansei Corporation 12
#15 Air Squared, Inc. 12
#16 Lontra Limited 12
#17 Liquidpiston, Inc. 11
#18 Anest Iwata Corporation 10
#19 Rotoliptic Technologies Incorporated 10
#20 Taiho Kogyo Co., Ltd. 9

About This Class

CPC subclass F01C belongs to class F01.

1,662 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 F01C 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 F01C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F01C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 F01C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F01C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 510152025 050100150 Patents in F01C Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Pratt & Whitney CanadaEmerson ClimateHitachi Industrial Eq…ShowaTrane InternationalEdwardsBitzer Kühlmaschinenb…Schwäbische Hüttenwer…Gree Electric Applian…Gree Green Refrigerat…KybAtlas Copco Airpower…Mitsubishi Heavy Indu…Calsonic Kansei
Top 14 F01C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F01C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class F01C?
CPC subclass F01C covers ROTARY-PISTON OR OSCILLATING-PISTON MACHINES OR ENGINES. It belongs to CPC class F01 (MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES), with 1,662 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in F01C?
1,662 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass F01C between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in F01C?
Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. leads F01C with 129 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for F01C 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., F01) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like F01C 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.