B41K STAMPS; STAMPING OR NUMBERING APPARATUS OR DEVICES (marking meat A22C17/10; embossing combined with printing B41F19/00; selective printing mechanisms B41J; embossing decorations or marks B44B5/00; marking or coding completed packages B65B61/26; ticket printing and issuing, fare registering, nonprinting aspects of franking apparatus G07B)
Introduced: September 1968
Description
B41K covers hand-operated and mechanized devices for applying impressions, marks, or numbering sequences onto surfaces through stamping, embossing, or impact-based techniques. This includes rubber stamps, numbering machines, date stamps, marking dies, and related apparatus designed for manual or semi-automatic operation. The classification encompasses both the stamping devices themselves and the machinery that applies them, excluding printing presses and typewriter mechanisms covered by adjacent classes. Typical applications include document numbering, postal marking, industrial batch coding, and general-purpose impression marking on paper, cardboard, or other substrates.
Title
Titles differ between systems:
IPC: STAMPS; STAMPING OR NUMBERING APPARATUS OR DEVICES
CPC: STAMPS; STAMPING OR NUMBERING APPARATUS OR DEVICES (marking meat A22C17/10; embossing combined with printing B41F19/00; selective printing mechanisms B41J; embossing decorations or marks B44B5/00; marking or coding completed packages B65B61/26; ticket printing and issuing, fare registering, nonprinting aspects of franking apparatus G07B)
Full Title
Full titles differ between systems:
STAMPS; STAMPING OR NUMBERING APPARATUS OR DEVICES
STAMPS; STAMPING OR NUMBERING APPARATUS OR DEVICES (marking meat A22C17/10; embossing combined with printing B41F19/00; selective printing mechanisms B41J; embossing decorations or marks B44B5/00; marking or coding completed packages B65B61/26; ticket printing and issuing, fare registering, nonprinting aspects of franking apparatus G07B)
IPC and CPC are identically structured here. All 4 subcodes exist in both systems.
1 shared codes have differing titles between IPC and CPC.
Child Classifications
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- B41K 1/00 Portable hand-operated devices without means for supporting or locating the articles to be stamped, i.e. hand stamps; Inking devices or other accessories therefor +2 CPC IPC+CPC Available in IPC and CPC
- B41K 3/00 Apparatus for stamping articles having integral means for supporting the articles to be stamped (means for printing on articles of special shape or having a surface of particular configuration B41F17/00) +1 CPC IPC+CPC Available in IPC and CPC
- B41K 5/00 Plier-like tools for stamping, or stamping and delivering, tickets or the like +2 CPC IPC+CPC Available in IPC and CPC
- B41K 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass since 2006 IPC+CPC Available in IPC and CPC
Top Applicants
Top Applicants (IPC)
Class B41,2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT
- SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION 14,672
- CANON 14,153
- RICOH COMPANY 8,049
- SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION JP 8,044
- HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY US 7,312
- BROTHER INDUSTRIES 6,887
- KYOCERA DOCUMENT SOLUTIONS 5,463
- CANON JP 5,001
- KONICA MINOLTA CORPORATION 4,512
- BROTHER INDUSTRIES JP 3,681
Top Applicants (CPC)
Class B41,2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT
- SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION 8,446
- SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION JP 8,438
- HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY US 7,828
- CANON JP 5,419
- CANON 4,156
- BROTHER INDUSTRIES JP 3,763
- BROTHER INDUSTRIES 2,779
- RICOH COMPANY JP 2,717
- FUJIFILM JP 2,423
- RICOH COMPANY 1,739