CPC Definition - Subclass E21C
This place covers:
Methods or apparatus specific to mining or quarrying.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Repairing, reconditioning, taking-up, grinding, or milling of road or like surface | |
Drill bits, bore reamers, core taking devices, drilling pipes or rods, handling, racking or connecting arrangements for drilling pipes or rods, counterboring or enlarging drilled holes, flame drilling, or other drilling apparatus, even though they may be disclosed only for mining or quarrying | |
Shafts; Tunnels; Galleries; Large underground chambers | |
Safety devices, transport, rescue, ventilation or drainage in or of mines or tunnels |
This place covers:
Machines having cutting means for making a slit or a plurality of slits in the seam, so that the material in the seam can be removed in a subsequent step. Illustrative example:
This place does not cover:
Dislodging machines with slitting means |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Guiding the machine |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Machines slitting solely by one or more cutter chains moving unidirectionally along jibs with equipment for cleaning the slit |
Looping references between E21C 25/14 and E21C 25/50 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: both references are considered informative.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Machines slitting solely by one or more cutting rods or cutting drums which rotate, move through the seam, and may or may not reciprocate with equipment for cleaning the slit |
Looping references between E21C 25/50 and E21C 25/14 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: both references are considered informative.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Hand tools or hand-held power-operated tools specially adapted for dislodging minerals |
Looping references between E21C 25/64 and E21C 37/22 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: both references are considered non-limiting.
This place covers:
Machines that can break the mineral by any means that dislodge it completely from the seam.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Guiding the machine |
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
Planer | A fixed-blade device for continuous longwall mining of narrow seams of friable coal; the machine is operated along the coal face, planing a narrow cut from the solid coal as it travels. |
This place covers:
Machines which completely free the mineral from the seam solely by slitting; Shearer loaders. While E21C 25/00 is only for slitting, with the material remaining in place and needing to be removed by other means, in E21C 27/02 the material is slit and removed in one go. The machines of this groups have e.g. drums with spiral-shaped cutters for slitting and extracting the cut material. Illustrative example:
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Breaking-down by means inserted in boreholes |
Looping references between E21C 27/14 and E21C 37/00 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: the reference to E21C 37/00 is considered informative.
This place covers:
Mineral freed by milling means acting on the full working face not involving slitting; Continuous miners. llustrative example:
This place covers:
Machine propelled along the working face by cable or chain; Coal ploughs. Illustrative example:
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Mining picks |
Looping references between E21C 27/44 and E21C 35/18 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: both references are considered non-limiting.
This place covers:
Propulsion of machines for slitting or completely freeing the mineral from the seam; Propulsion of machines along the seam. Illustrative example:
Propulsion of machines into the seam, as in highwall mining. Illustrative example:
This place covers:
Drive units for energising any of the parts forming the machine. Illustrative example:
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Equipment transport systems adapted to underground conditions |
This place covers:
Specific details of mining machines not disclosed in E21C 25/00 - E21C 33/00.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Picks for tearing up asphalt |
Means for placing or orienting the machine are classified in E21C 35/08 and subgroups. Inventions relative to obtaining information about the position or the status of the machine and processing that information to control the machine are classified in E21C 35/24. If the positioning is done in combination with operation of a shield for step-by-step movement, then this aspect is classified in E21D 23/00.
Examples of places in relation to which this place is residual:
Planing knives |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Tools, e.g. having exchangeable cutter bits, for milling stone or stone-like materials not otherwise provided for |
Looping references between E21C 35/18 and E21C 27/44 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: both references are considered non-limiting.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
supply of fluid to the nozzles |
Looping references between E21C 35/22 and E21C 35/187 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: Reference E21C 35/22 is non-limiting in the subgroup E21C 35/187.
This place does not cover:
Picks with arrangement of fluid-spraying nozzles |
Looping references between E21C 35/22 and E21C 35/187 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: the reference to E21C 35/187 is considered limiting.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Control in general |
Reference G05 is non-limiting in subgroup E21C 35/24. CPC will be corrected once this inconsistency is resolved in IPC.
This place covers:
Techniques for dislodging minerals for mining applications.
This place does not cover:
Breaking-down by means inserted in slits |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Excavating tunnels by blasting methods | |
Rock blasting |
Looping references between E21C 37/00 and E21C 27/14 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: the reference to E21C 27/14 is considered limiting.
Examples of places in relation to which this place is residual:
Slitting machines guided solely by hand and either carried by hand or mounted on supports |
Looping references between E21C 37/22 and E21C 25/64 have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: both references are considered non-limiting.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Indicating devices for use during driving of tunnels | |
Rock pressure control devices |
This place covers:
Methods disclosing sequences of steps or combinations of operations of mining.
This place does not cover:
Machines for underground mining | |
Methods of hydraulic mining, hydraulic monitors | |
Machines for surface mining | |
Mining methods for obtaining peat | |
Methods of underwater mining | |
Obtaining minerals through a borehole drilled from the surface |
This place covers:
Methods of hydraulic mining; Hydraulic monitors; Excavating alluvial or other mineral deposits by means of high-pressure water jets. Illustrative example:
This place does not cover:
Slitting by jets of water |
In patent documents, the following words/expressions are often used as synonyms:
- "hydraulic mining", "hydraulic excavation"; "hydraulic extraction", "hydroextraction" and "hydrolicking"
This place covers:
Machines for obtaining or the removal of materials in open-pit mines. Illustrative example:
This place does not cover:
Methods of surface mining | |
Mining methods for obtaining peat | |
Surface transport of mined material |
This place covers:
Methods and machinery for draining and preparing the peat deposit before exploitation, as well as for the extraction of peat.
This place does not cover:
Treating peat |
This place covers:
Methods and machinery for obtaining minerals from sea bodies, such as ocean floors, or lake or river beds.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Cosmonautics |
Looping references between E21C 51/00 and B64G have been identified. Until this inconsistency is resolved in IPC, the current classification practice in CPC is as follows: the reference to B64G is considered informative.