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CPC technology class · F16

F16H - Gearing

Gearing. 27,860 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

27,860
US patents granted
#1/14
in F16
20.2%
F16 class share
-1%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Gearing ranks #72 of 670 CPC technology areas - 27,860 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume down 1% over five years.

#72
of 670 CPC technology areas
27,860
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Hyundai Motor
leading assignee (1,326)
-1%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How F16H's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, F16H recorded 12,260 grants versus 12,445 in 2015–2019 (-1% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2020 at 3,052 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 2,041 (+50% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Hyundai Motor Company holds 4.8% of the class ; the top three share 11.8%.

Leaderboard read

F16H concentration, lead at 4.8%

Hyundai Motor Company leads this historical grant record at 4.8% of F16H - foreign corporation assignees hold 70% of class grants (15,804 of 22,471). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share
4.8%

1,326 of 27,860 grants

Top three share
11.8%

of the class's recorded grants

Lead over #2
256

more grants than Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Where F16H sits inside F16

Among 14 subclasses in F16 (Engineering Elements AND UNITS; General Measures FOR Producing AND Maintaining Effective Functioning OF Machines OR INSTALLATIONS; Thermal Insulation IN General), F16H ranks #1 and holds 20.2% of the parent class's 137,714 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

F16K 17,624 F16L 16,791 F16D 15,330 F16B 14,787 F16C 14,627 F16F 10,113 F16M 8,559 F16J 7,442

Rising assignees active in F16H

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 RTX Corporation 662x 0 → 662 company-wide · 42 in F16H
  2. #2 Mercedes-Benz Group AG 257x 0 → 257 company-wide · 39 in F16H
  3. #3 HL Mando Corporation 212x 0 → 212 company-wide · 40 in F16H
  4. #4 Kawasaki Motors, Ltd. 146x 0 → 146 company-wide · 39 in F16H
  5. #5 Continental Automotive Technologies GmbH 54x 0 → 54 company-wide · 6 in F16H

F16H grants by year, peak 2020 (3,052)

US utility-patent grants per year in F16H, 2015–2025 - recent five years are down 1% versus 2015–2019.

1,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,500 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 1,382

Who leads F16H?

The 12 most active assignees in Gearing - wider bars mean more grants

patents

What this shows Hyundai Motor is the most active filer in F16H, holding 1,326 of the 27,860 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 F16H
Rank Company Patents in F16H
#1 Hyundai Motor Company 1,326
#2 Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha 1,070
#3 ZF Friedrichshafen AG 904
#4 Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG 820
#5 Ford Global Technologies, LLC 718
#6 GM Global Technology Operations LLC 705
#7 Honda Motor Co., Ltd. 660
#8 KIA Motors Corporation 571
#9 Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. 361
#10 Jatco Ltd 342
#11 Deere & Company 322
#12 Allison Transmission, Inc. 298
#13 Aisin AW Co., Ltd. 285
#14 BorgWarner Inc. 230
#15 NTN Corporation 202
#16 Shimano Inc. 193
#17 Jtekt Corporation 186
#18 Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation (HSC) 183
#19 Caterpillar Inc. 175
#20 Audi AG 171

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading F16H 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 F16H assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16H. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 5101520 050010001500 Patents in F16H Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Hyundai MotorToyota JidoshaZf FriedrichshafenSchaeffler & KgFord GlobalGm Global Technology…Honda MotorKia MotorsNissan MotorJatcoDeere &Allison TransmissionAisin AwBorgwarner
Top 14 F16H assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16H. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near F16H's 27,860-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for F16H (#72 of 670 by volume ; lead share 4.8%) - not the F16 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

C09D 27,394 C08K 28,505 G06K 27,107 G08G 27,080

Nearest by lead-assignee share

G16C 4.8% F17C 4.8% G01T 4.7% B28B 4.7%

Questions about F16H

Which company holds the most patents in F16H?
Hyundai Motor Company leads F16H with 1,326 patents (4.8% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 70% of class grants.
Which F16H assignees grew fastest recently?
Among assignees with ≥5 grants in F16H, RTX Corporation shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (662x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 662 in 2022–2024) while holding 42 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.
How does F16H compare inside parent class F16?
Inside F16 (Engineering Elements AND UNITS; General Measures FOR Producing AND Maintaining Effective Functioning OF Machines OR INSTALLATIONS; Thermal Insulation IN General), F16H ranks #1 of 14 subclasses by grant volume and holds 20.2% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is F16K (17,624 grants).

What to do with this data

F16H in context - here's where to go next.

  • Hyundai Motor Company leads F16H with 1,326 grants in this class. See full portfolio
  • F16H ranks #72 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
  • Inside parent class F16, the largest sibling subclass is F16K with 17,624 grants. Explore F16K

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

Methodology - F16H figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (27,860 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.