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IPC Subgroup
F01L 21/02

Piston or piston-rod used as valve member

Introduced: September 1968

Last revised: January 2006

Full Title

Use of working pistons or piston-rods as fluid-distributing valves or as valve-supporting elements, e.g. in free-piston machines > Piston or piston-rod used as valve member

Classification Context

Section:
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
Class:
MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL; ENGINE PLANTS IN GENERAL; STEAM ENGINES
Subclass:
CYCLICALLY OPERATING VALVES FOR MACHINES OR ENGINES

Filing statistics

IPC F01L 21/02 belongs to the parent subclass F01L, which recorded 28,860 patent applications worldwide between 2013 and 2023. Annual filings declined from 3,209 in 2013 to 1,109 in 2023 (-65%), peaking at 3,780 applications in 2015. The most active applicants in class F01 are GE (GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY) (8,496 applications), UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION (UTC) (7,291 applications) and SAFRAN AIRCRAFT ENGINES (5,503 applications).

Source: EPO PATSTAT, worldwide filings

Top Applicants

Top 10 applicants by patent filingsfor class F01, 2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT

  1. GE (GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY) US 8,496
  2. UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION (UTC) US 7,291
  3. SAFRAN AIRCRAFT ENGINES FR 5,503
  4. TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 4,556
  5. SIEMENS DE 3,992
  6. HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY KR 3,929
  7. RAYTHEON TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION US 3,534
  8. FORD GLOBAL TECHNOLOGIES US 3,407
  9. TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION JP 3,042
  10. WEICHAI POWER COMPANY 2,888