CPC technology class · F02

F02F - Cylinders

Cylinders, pistons or casings, for combustion engines; arrangements of sealings in combustion engines. 2,743 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

2,743
US patents granted: #8/9
in F02: 3.7%
F02 class share: -17%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Cylinders ranks #333 of 670 CPC technology areas - 2,743 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 17% over five years.

#333
of 670 CPC technology areas: 2,743
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Ford Global
leading assignee (217): -17%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How F02F's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, F02F recorded 1,140 grants versus 1,378 in 2015–2019 (-17% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 386 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 125 (+209% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Mahle International GmbH holds 5.1% of the class ; the top three share 13.3%.

Leaderboard read

F02F concentration, lead at 5.1%

Mahle International GmbH leads this historical grant record at 5.1% of F02F - foreign corporation assignees hold 62% of class grants (801 of 1,283). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 5.1%
Top three share: 13.3%
Lead over #2: 7

Where F02F sits inside F02

Among 9 subclasses in F02 (Combustion ENGINES; Hot-gas OR Combustion-product Engine Plants), F02F ranks #8 and holds 3.7% of the parent class's 73,441 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

F02D 16,949 F02C 16,237 F02M 13,937 F02B 11,001 F02K 5,533 F02N 3,467 F02P 2,762 F02G 812

Rising assignees active in F02F

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 Mahle Automotive Technologies (CHINA) Co., Ltd. 6.00x 0 → 6 company-wide · 5 in F02F
#2 Deutz Aktiengesellschaft 2.50x 6 → 15 company-wide · 14 in F02F
#3 DeltaHawk Engines, Inc. 2.50x 2 → 5 company-wide · 5 in F02F
#4 Dana Automotive Systems Group, LLC 2.39x 56 → 134 company-wide · 10 in F02F
#5 Mainspring Energy, Inc. 2.00x 13 → 26 company-wide · 7 in F02F

F02F grants by year, peak 2019 (386)

US utility-patent grants per year in F02F, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 17% versus 2015–2019.

Mahle International

140
Caterpillar

133
Mazda Motor

92
Cummins

64
Tenneco

64
Federal-mogul

58
Achates Power

53
Riken

29
Yanmar Power…

28
Avl List

27
Ks Kolbenschmidt

26
Federal-mogul Nurnberg

22

What this shows Ford Global is the most active filer in F02F, holding 217 of the 2,743 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 F02F
Rank	Company	Patents in F02F
#1	Mahle International GmbH	140
#2	Caterpillar Inc.	133
#3	Mazda Motor Corporation	92
#4	Cummins Inc.	64
#5	Tenneco GmbH	64
#6	Federal-Mogul LLC	58
#7	Achates Power, Inc.	53
#8	RIKEN	29
#9	Yanmar Power Technology Co., Ltd.	28
#10	AVL List GMBH	27
#11	KS Kolbenschmidt GmbH	26
#12	Federal-Mogul Nurnberg GmbH	22
#13	Brunswick Corporation	21
#14	TPR Co., Ltd.	21
#15	NOK Corporation	19
#16	MAN Truck &Bus AG	18
#17	Briggs & Stratton, LLC	17
#18	Isuzu Motors Limited	15
#19	Deutz Aktiengesellschaft	14
#20	Aquarius Engines (A.M.) Ltd.	11

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading F02F 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 F02F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F02F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near F02F's 2,743-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for F02F (#333 of 670 by volume ; lead share 7.9%) - not the F02 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

G03H 2,738 F02P 2,762 F41H 2,723 G07G 2,768

Nearest by lead-assignee share

G09F 7.9% F23M 7.9% B23F 7.9% B60H 8.0%

Questions about F02F

Which company holds the most patents in F02F?

Ford Global Technologies, LLC leads F02F with 217 patents (5.1% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 62% of class grants.

Which F02F assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in F02F, Mahle Automotive Technologies (CHINA) Co., Ltd. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (6.00x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 6 in 2022–2024) while holding 5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does F02F compare inside parent class F02?

Inside F02 (Combustion ENGINES; Hot-gas OR Combustion-product Engine Plants), F02F ranks #8 of 9 subclasses by grant volume and holds 3.7% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is F02D (16,949 grants).

What to do with this data

F02F in context - here's where to go next.

Mahle International GmbH leads F02F with 140 grants in this class. See full portfolio
F02F ranks #333 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class F02, the largest sibling subclass is F02D with 16,949 grants. Explore F02D

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

Methodology - F02F figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (2,743 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.