PlainPatent

CPC technology class · F16

F16F - Springs

Springs; shock-absorbers; means for damping vibration. 10,113 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

10,113
US patents granted
F16
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+2%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Springs ranks #171 of 670 CPC technology areas - 10,113 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 2% over five years.

#171
of 670 CPC technology areas
10,113
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Fox Factory
leading assignee (263)
+2%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Fox Factory, Inc. (263 patents)

CPC subclass F16F - SPRINGS; SHOCK-ABSORBERS; MEANS FOR DAMPING VIBRATION - covers 10,113 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records, within the broader CPC class F16 (ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL). See our CPC classification guide for how the system works.

The competitive landscape in F16F is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Fox Factory, Inc. leads with 263 patents, followed by Schaeffler Technologies Ag & Co. KG at 209 grants and ZF Friedrichshafen Ag at 153.

Filing activity in F16F is up 2% 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 F16F innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in F16F, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 2% versus 2015–2019.

4006008001,0001,200 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 514

Who leads F16F?

The 12 most active assignees in SPRINGS; SHOCK-ABSORBERS; MEANS FOR DAMPING VIBRATION - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Fox Factory is the most active filer in F16F, holding 263 of the 10,113 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 F16F
Rank Company Patents in F16F
#1 Fox Factory, Inc. 263
#2 Schaeffler Technologies Ag & Co. KG 209
#3 ZF Friedrichshafen Ag 153
#4 KYB Corporation 145
#5 Sumitomo Riko Company Limited 130
#6 Exedy Corporation 120
#7 Firestone Industrial Products Company, Llc 114
#8 Hitachi Astemo, Ltd. 103
#9 Bridgestone Corporation 92
#10 Showa Corporation 90
#11 NHK Spring Co., Ltd. 89
#12 Beijing West Industries Co., Ltd. 89
#13 Tenneco Automotive Operating Company Llc 81
#14 Valeo Embrayages 81
#15 Goodrich Corporation 80
#16 Thyssenkrupp Ag 68
#17 Thyssenkrupp Bilstein Gmbh 57
#18 Mandom Corporation 53
#19 DRIV Automotive Inc. 53
#20 Textron Innovations Inc. 45

About This Class

CPC subclass F16F belongs to class F16.

10,113 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 F16F 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 F16F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 F16F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 5101520 50100150200250300 Patents in F16F Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Fox FactorySchaeffler & KgZf FriedrichshafenKybSumitomo RikoExedyFirestone Industrial…Hitachi AstemoBridgestoneShowaNhk SpringBeijing West Industri…Tenneco Automotive Op…Valeo Embrayages
Top 14 F16F assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16F. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class F16F?
CPC subclass F16F covers SPRINGS; SHOCK-ABSORBERS; MEANS FOR DAMPING VIBRATION. It belongs to CPC class F16 (ENGINEERING ELEMENTS AND UNITS; GENERAL MEASURES FOR PRODUCING AND MAINTAINING EFFECTIVE FUNCTIONING OF MACHINES OR INSTALLATIONS; THERMAL INSULATION IN GENERAL), with 10,113 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in F16F?
10,113 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass F16F between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in F16F?
Fox Factory, Inc. leads F16F with 263 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for F16F 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., F16) is a broad technology category. Subclasses like F16F 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.