CPC technology class · F27
F27D — Details OR Accessories OF Furnaces
Details or accessories of furnaces, kilns, ovens or retorts, in so far as they are of kinds occurring in more than one kind of furnace. 2,695 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year filing trajectory.
- 2,695
- US patents granted
- F27
- Parent CPC class
- 20
- Active assignees
- -4%
- 5-yr velocity
CPC subclass F27D — DETAILS OR ACCESSORIES OF FURNACES, KILNS, OVENS OR RETORTS, IN SO FAR AS THEY ARE OF KINDS OCCURRING IN MORE THAN ONE KIND OF FURNACE — covers 2,695 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025 according to USPTO PatentsView records. This subclass sits within the broader CPC class F27 (FURNACES; KILNS; OVENS; RETORTS), one of roughly 250 top-level technology categories in the Cooperative Patent Classification system jointly maintained by the USPTO and the European Patent Office. At the subclass level, four-character codes like F27D give the most practical resolution for tracking a specific technology domain without losing sight of adjacent filings. Every grant here has been classified by a USPTO examiner based on the technical disclosure in the patent specification.
The competitive landscape in F27D is shaped by 20 distinct companies actively filing in this space. Molten Metal Equipment Innovations, LLC leads with 58 patents, followed by JFE Steel Corporation at 1,443 grants and PAUL WURTH S.A. at 61. Concentration at the top of the leaderboard indicates whether this technology area is dominated by a handful of incumbents or fragmented across many filers — a useful signal for investors evaluating competitive moats and for product teams mapping freedom-to-operate risk.
Filing trajectory matters as much as static counts. The yearly series on this page plots grants from 2015 through 2025, highlighting whether innovation in F27D is accelerating, plateauing, or cooling. Technology areas with rising post-2020 activity often reflect emerging markets or new platform shifts, while declining filings can signal mature domains where incremental improvement has slowed. Researchers, licensing professionals, and competitive-intelligence teams use these patterns — together with the top-assignee distribution — to decide where to invest, where to license, and where to avoid entanglement. All counts on this page come directly from USPTO PatentsView and reflect US granted utility patents only.
Is F27D innovation accelerating?
US utility-patent grants per year in F27D, 2015–2025 — recent five years are down 4% versus 2015–2019.
Who leads F27D?
The 12 most active assignees in DETAILS OR ACCESSORIES OF FURNACES, KILNS, OVENS OR RETORTS, IN SO FAR AS THEY ARE OF KINDS OCCURRING IN MORE THAN ONE KIND OF FURNACE — wider bars mean more grants
- Molten Metal Equipmen… 81
Molten Metal Equipment Innovations, LLC
81 patents
- Jfe Steel
JFE Steel Corporation
1,443 patents
- Paul Wurth 61
PAUL WURTH S.A.
61 patents
- Novelis 182
Novelis Inc.
182 patents
- Danieli & C Officine… 169
DANIELI & C. OFFICINE MECCANICHE S.P.A.
169 patents
- Outotec (Finland) Oy 174
OUTOTEC (FINLAND) OY
174 patents
- Primetals Austria 142
Primetals Technologies Austria GmbH
142 patents
- Ivoclar Vivadent 370
Ivoclar Vivadent AG
370 patents
- Refractory Intellectu… 72
REFRACTORY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY GMBH & CO. KG
72 patents
- Asm Ip Holding B V
ASM IP Holding B.V.
1,116 patents
- Air Products And Chem… 353
AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS, INC.
353 patents
- Pyrotek 50
PYROTEK, INC.
50 patents
What this shows Molten Metal Equipmen… is the most active filer in F27D, holding 58 of the 2,695 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.
View data table
| Rank | Company | Patents in F27D |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Molten Metal Equipment Innovations, LLC | 81 |
| #2 | JFE Steel Corporation | 1,443 |
| #3 | PAUL WURTH S.A. | 61 |
| #4 | Novelis Inc. | 182 |
| #5 | DANIELI & C. OFFICINE MECCANICHE S.P.A. | 169 |
| #6 | OUTOTEC (FINLAND) OY | 174 |
| #7 | Primetals Technologies Austria GmbH | 142 |
| #8 | Ivoclar Vivadent AG | 370 |
| #9 | REFRACTORY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY GMBH & CO. KG | 72 |
| #10 | ASM IP Holding B.V. | 1,116 |
| #11 | AIR PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS, INC. | 353 |
| #12 | PYROTEK, INC. | 50 |
| #13 | Outotec Oyj | 54 |
| #14 | POSCO CO., LTD | 691 |
| #15 | SMS group GmbH | 257 |
| #16 | SAINT-GOBAIN CENTRE DE RECHERCHES ET D'ETUDES EUROPEEN | 92 |
| #17 | Hatch Ltd. | 37 |
| #18 | Systems Spray-Cooled, Inc. | 20 |
| #19 | SUNCOKE TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT LLC | 96 |
| #20 | Inductotherm Corp. | 37 |
About This Class
CPC subclass F27D belongs to class F27.
2,695 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CPC class F27D?
How many patents have been filed in F27D?
Which company holds the most patents in F27D?
How is patent data for F27D collected?
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Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.