CPC technology class · F42

F42B - Explosive Charges

Explosive charges, e.g. for blasting, fireworks, ammunition. 3,745 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

3,745
US patents granted: #1/3
in F42: 67.2%
F42 class share: +2%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Explosive Charges ranks #284 of 670 CPC technology areas - 3,745 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 2% over five years.

#284
of 670 CPC technology areas: 3,745
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Raytheon
leading assignee (166): +2%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How F42B's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, F42B recorded 1,754 grants versus 1,727 in 2015–2019 (+2% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2021 at 415 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 310 (+34% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee Raytheon Company holds 4.4% of the class ; the top three share 12.7%.

Leaderboard read

F42B concentration, lead at 4.4%

Raytheon Company leads this historical grant record at 4.4% of F42B - us corporation assignees hold 59% of class grants (1,491 of 2,508). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 4.4%
Top three share: 12.7%
Lead over #2: 1

Where F42B sits inside F42

Among 3 subclasses in F42 (AMMUNITION; Blasting), F42B ranks #1 and holds 67.2% of the parent class's 5,576 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

F42C 944 F42D 887

Rising assignees active in F42B

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 Federal Cartridge Company 17x 0 → 17 company-wide · 23 in F42B
#2 XConnect, LLC 17x 1 → 17 company-wide · 9 in F42B
#3 Corvid Technologies LLC 11x 1 → 11 company-wide · 12 in F42B
#4 ZF Airbag Germany GMBH 11x 1 → 11 company-wide · 6 in F42B
#5 Blue Origin, LLC 9.80x 5 → 49 company-wide · 6 in F42B

F42B grants by year, peak 2021 (415)

US utility-patent grants per year in F42B, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 2% versus 2015–2019.

Raytheon

166
The United States of…

165
True Velocity Ip…

146
United States of…

144
Vista Outdoor…

66
Bae Systems

50
Bae Systems Informatio…

47
Orbital Research

43
Dynaenergetics Europe

40
Hunting Titan

38
Rheinmetall Waffe…

37
Saab Ab

30

What this shows Raytheon is the most active filer in F42B, holding 166 of the 3,745 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 F42B
Rank	Company	Patents in F42B
#1	Raytheon Company	166
#2	The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army	165
#3	True Velocity IP Holdings, Inc.	146
#4	United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force	144
#5	Vista Outdoor Operations LLC	66
#6	BAE Systems PLC	50
#7	BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.	47
#8	Orbital Research Inc.	43
#9	DynaEnergetics Europe GmbH	40
#10	Hunting Titan, Inc.	38
#11	Rheinmetall Waffe Munition GmbH	37
#12	Saab AB	30
#13	True Velocity, Inc.	30
#14	Omnitek Partners LLC	29
#15	Ruag Ammotec GmbH	29
#16	Daicel Corporation	28
#17	Orbital ATK, Inc.	28
#18	BAE Systems Bofors AB	28
#19	Mbda France	23
#20	Federal Cartridge Company	23

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading F42B 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 F42B assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in F42B. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near F42B's 3,745-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for F42B (#284 of 670 by volume ; lead share 4.4%) - not the F42 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

C08B 3,742 B62M 3,735 B26D 3,757 A01C 3,761

Nearest by lead-assignee share

H01B 4.4% B25G 4.4% C01G 4.4% B23B 4.4%

Questions about F42B

Which company holds the most patents in F42B?

Raytheon Company leads F42B with 166 patents (4.4% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, us corporations account for 59% of class grants.

Which F42B assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in F42B, Federal Cartridge Company shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (17x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 17 in 2022–2024) while holding 23 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does F42B compare inside parent class F42?

Inside F42 (AMMUNITION; Blasting), F42B ranks #1 of 3 subclasses by grant volume and holds 67.2% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is F42C (944 grants).

What to do with this data

F42B in context - here's where to go next.

Raytheon Company leads F42B with 166 grants in this class. See full portfolio
F42B ranks #284 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class F42, the largest sibling subclass is F42C with 944 grants. Explore F42C

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

Methodology - F42B figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (3,745 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.