PlainPatent

CPC technology class · F16

F16N - Lubricating

Lubricating. 1,760 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.

1,760
US patents granted
F16
Parent CPC class
20
Active assignees
+65%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

Lubricating ranks #386 of 670 CPC technology areas - 1,760 US patents granted since 2015, with filing up 65% over five years.

#386
of 670 CPC technology areas
1,760
US patents granted, 2015–2025
Pratt & Whitney Canada
leading assignee (56)
+65%
filing velocity, last 5 yrs
Top assignee: Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. (56 patents)

CPC subclass F16N - LUBRICATING - covers 1,760 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 F16N is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. leads with 56 patents, followed by Lincoln Industrial Corporation at 35 grants and Graco Minnesota Inc. at 30.

Filing activity in F16N is up 65% 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 F16N innovation accelerating?

US utility-patent grants per year in F16N, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 65% versus 2015–2019.

100120140160180200 20152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 137

Who leads F16N?

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

patents

What this shows Pratt & Whitney Canada is the most active filer in F16N, holding 56 of the 1,760 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 F16N
Rank Company Patents in F16N
#1 Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. 56
#2 Lincoln Industrial Corporation 35
#3 Graco Minnesota Inc. 30
#4 SKF Lubrication Systems Germany Gmbh 24
#5 Cummins Filtration IP, Inc. 13
#6 Downing Wellhead Equipment, Llc 12
#7 Dropsa S.p.a. 12
#8 Yantai Jereh Petroleum Equipment & Technologies Co., Ltd. 11
#9 RPM Industries, Llc 11
#10 Mann+hummel Gmbh 9
#11 Perma-tec Gmbh & Co. KG 9
#12 Safran AERO Boosters 8
#13 Castrol Limited 8
#14 Ingersoll-rand Company 7
#15 GE AVIO S.r.l. 7
#16 Safran Transmission Systems 7
#17 C.c. Jensen A/s 7
#18 Edwards Limited 6
#19 DANA Italia S.r.l. 6
#20 Petromac IP Limited 6

About This Class

CPC subclass F16N belongs to class F16.

1,760 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 F16N 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 F16N assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16N. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Top 14 F16N assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16N. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes). Scatter plot of 14 data points (bubble-sized by third dimension). 1015202530 0204060 Patents in F16N Avg claims / patent (company-wide) Pratt & Whitney CanadaLincoln IndustrialGraco MinnesotaSkf Lubrication Syste…Cummins Filtration IpDowning Wellhead Equi…Dropsa S p AYantai Jereh Petroleu…Rpm IndustriesMann+HummelPerma-tec & KgSafran Aero BoostersCastrolIngersoll-rand
Top 14 F16N assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F16N. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CPC class F16N?
CPC subclass F16N covers LUBRICATING. 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 1,760 US utility patents granted since 2015.
How many patents have been filed in F16N?
1,760 US utility patents were granted in CPC subclass F16N between 2015 and 2025, based on USPTO PatentsView data.
Which company holds the most patents in F16N?
Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. leads F16N with 56 patents, making it the most active assignee in this technology area.
How is patent data for F16N 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 F16N 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.