CPC technology class · F16

F16J - Pistons

Pistons ; cylinders; sealings. 7,442 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

7,442
US patents granted: #9/14
in F16: 5.4%
F16 class share: +0%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Pistons ranks #200 of 670 CPC technology areas - 7,442 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 0% over five years.

#200
of 670 CPC technology areas: 7,442
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Nok
leading assignee (257): +0%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How F16J's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, F16J recorded 3,375 grants versus 3,384 in 2015–2019 (+0% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 884 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 505 (+75% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee NOK Corporation holds 3.5% of the class ; the top three share 9.5%.

Leaderboard read

F16J concentration, lead at 3.5%

NOK Corporation leads this historical grant record at 3.5% of F16J - foreign corporation assignees hold 59% of class grants (2,523 of 4,281). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 3.5%
Top three share: 9.5%
Lead over #2: 23

Where F16J 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), F16J ranks #9 and holds 5.4% 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.

F16H 27,860 F16K 17,624 F16L 16,791 F16D 15,330 F16B 14,787 F16C 14,627 F16F 10,113 F16M 8,559

Rising assignees active in F16J

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 RTX Corporation 662x 0 → 662 company-wide · 53 in F16J
#2 Flowserve Pte. Ltd. 25x 0 → 25 company-wide · 7 in F16J
#3 GD Energy Products, LLC 16x 0 → 16 company-wide · 9 in F16J
#4 ASC Engineered Solutions, LLC 11x 5 → 57 company-wide · 6 in F16J
#5 KT&G Corporation 8.79x 29 → 255 company-wide · 6 in F16J

F16J grants by year, peak 2019 (884)

US utility-patent grants per year in F16J, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 0% versus 2015–2019.

Nok

257
United

234
Eagle Industry

218
Raytheon

187
Aktiebolaget Skf

157
Mahle International

92
Federal-mogul…

66
Federal-mogul

65
Carl Freudenberg Kg

57
Riken

55
Rtx

53
Pratt & Whitney Canada

50

What this shows Nok is the most active filer in F16J, holding 257 of the 7,442 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 F16J
Rank	Company	Patents in F16J
#1	NOK Corporation	257
#2	United Technologies Corporation	234
#3	Eagle Industry Co., Ltd.	218
#4	Raytheon Technologies Corporation	187
#5	Aktiebolaget SKF	157
#6	Mahle International GmbH	92
#7	Federal-Mogul Burscheid GmbH	66
#8	Federal-Mogul LLC	65
#9	Carl Freudenberg KG	57
#10	RIKEN	55
#11	RTX Corporation	53
#12	Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp.	50
#13	NTN Corporation	48
#14	Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG	43
#15	Fisher Controls International LLC	38
#16	EagleBurgmann Germany GmbH & Co. KG	37
#17	MTU Aero Engines AG	35
#18	Nippon Pillar Packing Co., Ltd.	35
#19	Saint-gobain Performance Plastics Corporation	33
#20	Kerr Machine Co.	33

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading F16J 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 F16J assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16J. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near F16J's 7,442-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for F16J (#200 of 670 by volume ; lead share 3.5%) - not the F16 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

E06B 7,398 G10K 7,488 F03D 7,370 B21D 7,309

Nearest by lead-assignee share

A23J 3.5% H02J 3.5% A23G 3.5% A47F 3.5%

Questions about F16J

Which company holds the most patents in F16J?

NOK Corporation leads F16J with 257 patents (3.5% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 59% of class grants.

Which F16J assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in F16J, RTX Corporation shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (662x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 662 in 2022–2024) while holding 53 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does F16J 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), F16J ranks #9 of 14 subclasses by grant volume and holds 5.4% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is F16H (27,860 grants).

What to do with this data

F16J in context - here's where to go next.

NOK Corporation leads F16J with 257 grants in this class. See full portfolio
F16J ranks #200 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class F16, the largest sibling subclass is F16H with 27,860 grants. Explore F16H

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

Methodology - F16J figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (7,442 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.