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 grant trajectory.

1,662
US patents granted
#7/8
in F01
3.1%
F01 class share
-5%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Rotary-piston Or Oscillating-piston Machines Or Engines ranks #390 of 670 CPC technology areas - 1,662 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 5% over five years.

#390
of 670 CPC technology areas
1,662
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Pratt & Whitney Canada
leading assignee (129)
-5%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How F01C's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, F01C recorded 768 grants versus 809 in 2015–2019 (-5% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2017 at 190 grants and bottomed in 2023 at 123 (+54% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. holds 7.8% of the class ; the top three share 12.2%.

Leaderboard read

F01C concentration, lead at 7.8%

Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. leads this historical grant record at 7.8% of F01C - foreign corporation assignees hold 75% of class grants (637 of 853). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
7.8%

129 of 1,662 grants

Top three share
12.2%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
88

more grants than Emerson Climate Technologies, Inc.

Where F01C sits inside F01

Among 8 subclasses in F01 (Machines OR Engines IN GENERAL; Engine Plants IN GENERAL; Steam Engines), F01C ranks #7 and holds 3.1% of the parent class's 53,585 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

F01D 24,492 F01N 12,144 F01L 4,152 F01P 4,129 F01M 3,398 F01K 2,854 F01B 754

Rising assignees active in F01C

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 Leistritz Pumpen GMBH 6.00x 2 → 12 company-wide · 9 in F01C
  2. #2 Gebr. Becker GmbH 5.00x 1 → 5 company-wide · 5 in F01C
  3. #3 Astron Aerospace LLC 3.00x 1 → 3 company-wide · 6 in F01C
  4. #4 Schwäbische Hüttenwerke Automotive GmbH 2.73x 11 → 30 company-wide · 19 in F01C
  5. #5 Rotoliptic Technologies Incorporated 2.67x 3 → 8 company-wide · 10 in F01C

F01C grants by year, peak 2017 (190)

US utility-patent grants per year in F01C, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 5% 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

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). 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…ShowaTrane InternationalEdwardsBitzer Kühlmaschinenba…Schwäbische Hüttenwerk…Gree Electric…Gree Green Refrigerati…KybAtlas Copco Airpower…Mitsubishi Heavy…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).

Classes near F01C's 1,662-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for F01C (#390 of 670 by volume ; lead share 7.8%) - not the F01 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

A24D 1,661 F25C 1,654 B22C 1,672 G16Y 1,652

Nearest by lead-assignee share

A62C 7.8% B60S 7.8% B62H 7.7% B60L 7.8%

Questions about F01C

Which company holds the most patents in F01C?
Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. leads F01C with 129 patents (7.8% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 75% of class grants.
Which F01C assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in F01C, Leistritz Pumpen GMBH shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (6.00x: 2 grants in 2019–2021 → 12 in 2022–2024) while holding 9 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does F01C compare inside parent class F01?
Inside F01 (Machines OR Engines IN GENERAL; Engine Plants IN GENERAL; Steam Engines), F01C ranks #7 of 8 subclasses by grant volume and holds 3.1% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is F01D (24,492 grants).

What to do with this data

F01C in context - here's where to go next.

  • Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. leads F01C with 129 grants in this class. See full portfolio
  • F01C ranks #390 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
  • Inside parent class F01, the largest sibling subclass is F01D with 24,492 grants. Explore F01D

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

Methodology - F01C figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (1,662 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.