B41B MACHINES OR ACCESSORIES FOR MAKING, SETTING, OR DISTRIBUTING TYPE; TYPE; PHOTOGRAPHIC OR PHOTOELECTRONIC COMPOSING DEVICES
Introduced: September 1968
Classification Context
- Section:
- PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- Class:
- PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
- Subclass:
- MACHINES OR ACCESSORIES FOR MAKING, SETTING, OR DISTRIBUTING TYPE; TYPE; PHOTOGRAPHIC OR PHOTOELECTRONIC COMPOSING DEVICES
Description
B41B encompasses machinery and equipment for the complete manufacturing and handling workflow of typographic characters, including type casting, setting, spacing, and sorting systems. It covers mechanical type composition devices, photocomposition systems, and photoelectronic typesetting equipment used in traditional and modern printing preparation. This subclass also includes the physical type characters themselves and auxiliary apparatus for type distribution and management. Related printing processes and the actual printing machines themselves fall under adjacent B41 subclasses rather than B41B.
Filing statistics
IPC subclass B41B recorded 118 patent applications worldwide between 2013 and 2023. Annual filings grew from 9 in 2013 to 10 in 2023 (+11%), peaking at 20 applications in 2017. The most active applicants in class B41 are SEIKO EPSON CORPORATION (14,672 applications), CANON (14,153 applications) and RICOH COMPANY (8,049 applications).
Source: EPO PATSTAT, worldwide filings
Related Keywords
14 direct subcodes
Child Classifications
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- B41B 1/00 Elements or appliances for hand composition; Chases, quoins, or galleys
- B41B 11/00 Details of, or accessories for, machines for mechanical composition using matrices for individual characters which are selected and assembled for type casting or moulding
- B41B 13/00 Equipment specially adapted for photographing mounted characters or the like, e.g. advertisements, lines
- B41B 15/00 Photographic composing machines with movable character carriers for composing lines of characters prior to photography
- B41B 17/00 Photographic composing machines having fixed or movable character carriers and without means for composing lines prior to photography
- B41B 19/00 Photoelectronic composing machines
- B41B 21/00 Common details of photographic composing machines of the kinds covered in groups and
- B41B 23/00 Auxiliary devices for modifying, mixing, or correcting text or layout in connection with photographic or photoelectronic composing
- B41B 25/00 Apparatus specially adapted for preparation of record carriers for controlling composing machines
- B41B 27/00 Control, indicating, or safety devices or systems for composing machines of various kinds or types
- B41B 3/00 Apparatus for mechanical composition using prefabricated type, i.e. without casting equipment
- B41B 5/00 Devices for making type or lines
- B41B 7/00 Kinds or types of apparatus for mechanical composition in which the type is cast or moulded from matrices
- B41B 9/00 Details of, or accessories for, machines for mechanical composition using fixed combinations of matrices from which type is cast or moulded
Top Applicants
Top 10 applicants by patent filingsfor 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