PlainPatent

CPC technology class · F16

F16G - Belts

Belts, cables, or ropes, predominantly used for driving purposes; chains; fittings predominantly used therefor. 1,830 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

1,830
US patents granted
F16
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+23%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Belts ranks #375 of 670 CPC technology areas - 1,830 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 23% over five years.

#375
of 670 CPC technology areas
1,830
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Mitsuboshi Belting
leading assignee (69)
+23%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Mitsuboshi Belting Ltd. (69 patents)

CPC subclass F16G - BELTS, CABLES, OR ROPES, PREDOMINANTLY USED FOR DRIVING PURPOSES; CHAINS; FITTINGS PREDOMINANTLY USED THEREFOR - covers 1,830 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 F16G is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Mitsuboshi Belting Ltd. leads with 69 patents, followed by Mitsuboshi Belting Ltd. at 69 grants and Bando Chemical Industries, Ltd. at 68.

Filing activity in F16G is up 23% 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 F16G innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in F16G, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 23% versus 2015–2019.

100120140160180200 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 118

Who leads F16G?

The 12 most active assignees in BELTS, CABLES, OR ROPES, PREDOMINANTLY USED FOR DRIVING PURPOSES; CHAINS; FITTINGS PREDOMINANTLY USED THEREFOR - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Mitsuboshi Belting is the most active filer in F16G, holding 69 of the 1,830 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 F16G
Rank Company Patents in F16G
#1 IGUS Gmbh 69
#2 Mitsuboshi Belting Ltd. 69
#3 Bando Chemical Industries, Ltd. 68
#4 Tsubakimoto Chain Co. 67
#5 Gates Corporation 53
#6 Contitech Antriebssysteme Gmbh 28
#7 Shimano Inc. 25
#8 Flexible Steel Lacing Company 25
#9 OTIS Elevator Company 22
#10 Bright Technologies, Llc 22
#11 Boa Technology Inc. 16
#12 Gripple Limited 15
#13 SRAM Deutschland Gmbh 14
#14 Kone Corporation 12
#15 IWIS Motorsysteme Gmbh & Co. KG 12
#16 Tsubaki Kabelschlepp Gmbh 11
#17 Duraflex Hong Kong Limited 10
#18 RUD Ketten Rieger & Dietz Gmbh U. Co. KG 10
#19 Contitech Transportbandsysteme Gmbh 9
#20 Dayco Europe S.r.l. 9

About This Class

CPC subclass F16G belongs to class F16.

1,830 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 F16G 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 F16G assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16G. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 F16G assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16G. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 510152025 020406080 Patents in F16G Avg claims / patent (company-wide) IgusMitsuboshi BeltingBando Chemical Indust…Tsubakimoto ChainGatesContitech Antriebssys…ShimanoFlexible Steel LacingOtis ElevatorBrightBoa TechnologyGrippleSram DeutschlandKone
Top 14 F16G assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16G. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class F16G?
CPC subclass F16G covers BELTS, CABLES, OR ROPES, PREDOMINANTLY USED FOR DRIVING PURPOSES; CHAINS; FITTINGS PREDOMINANTLY USED THEREFOR. 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 1,830 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in F16G?
1,830 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass F16G between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in F16G?
Mitsuboshi Belting Ltd. leads F16G with 69 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for F16G 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 F16G 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.