CPC Definition - Subclass C05F
This place covers:
Materials affecting the growth of plants solely by supplying nutrients ordinarily required for growth or materials which are used to prevent or cure mineral deficiencies in plants as listed below:
- Fertilisers made from animal corpses or parts thereof;
- Fertilisers from human or animal excrements, e.g. manure;
- Fertilisers from distillery waste, e.g., molasses, vinasses, sugar plant or similar wastes or residues;
- Fertilisers from waste water, e.g. sewage sludge, sea slime, ooze or similar masses;
- Fertilisers from household or town refuse;
- Other organic fertilisers, e.g. peat or brown coal.
Preparation of fertilisers characterised by the composting step or apparatus therefor.
Preparation, treatment or modification of any of the materials above: e.g. by chemical means (e.g. addition of stabilisers or preservatives), physical means (e.g. irradiation, concentration, purification or separation) or combination of both chemical and physical means, with the proviso that the resultant product is proper for classification in this subclass.
Methods of preparing fertilisers from waste or refuse in general.
Apparatus for the manufacture thereof.
In contrast to fertilisers (C05), plant growth regulators (A01N) are those materials that alter a plant through chemical modification of plant metabolism, for example auxins.
Soil-conditioning materials or soil-stabilising materials are classified in group C09K 17/00 and cover mixtures of soil-conditioning materials or soil-stabilising materials with fertilisers where the composition in question is characterised by the soil-conditioning or soil-stabilising properties.
Mixtures of fertilisers are covered individually by different subclasses of class C05, while mixtures of soil-conditioning materials or soil-stabilising materials with fertilisers where the composition in question is characterised by the fertilising activity and fertilisers characterised by their form are classified in subclass C05G.
Whilst the subject matter of subclass C05F deals with organic fertilisers not covered by subclasses C05B and C05C per se, group A01C 3/00 deals with methods of treating manure/methods of manuring per se and group A01C 21/00 deals with methods of fertilising per se.
Inorganic fertilisers not covered by subclasses C05B or C05C and fertilisers producing carbon dioxide are classified in subclass C05D.
Apparatus relevant to the class C05 (if no specific entry for apparatus is provided, e.g. group C05F 1/02 - apparatus for the manufacture of fertilisers from animal corpses or parts thereof) are classified in the place dealing with the process or in the place dealing with the products as such. Additionally, individual or specific types of apparatus should be classified in the relevant area of the IPC, e.g. in group F26B 17/00.
Examples of places in relation to which this place is residual:
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Harrows with means for distributing fertilisers | |
Fertiliser distributors | |
Mowers combined with dispensing apparatus, e.g. for fertilisers | |
Horticulture; Cultivation of vegetables, flowers, rice, fruit, vines, hops or seaweed; Forestry; Watering | |
Root feeders; Injecting fertilisers into the roots | |
Earthworms | |
Processes or devices for granulating materials, in general | |
Destroying solid waste or transforming solid waste into something useful or harmless | |
Methods or installations for de-watering, drying or incineration of sludge | |
Soil-conditioning or soil-stabilising materials |
- An ingredient in a mixture of fertilisers, or a single fertiliser which contains more than one of the chemical elements on which the subdivision into subclasses is based, is classified only in the first of the appropriate places. Thus, a nitrophosphate or an ammoniated superphosphate is classified in subclass C05B but not in subclass C05C, magnesium phosphate is classified in subclass C05B but not in subclass C05D, and calcium cyanamide in subclass C05C but not in subclass C05D.
- Information relative to the form in which the fertiliser is presented, e.g. granulation, coating, etc. is always given in addition to the chemical composition of the fertilisers.
- Any ingredient in a mixture, which is considered to present information of interest for search, is also classified using a combination of classification symbols. If a document concerns embodiments comprising mixtures whose elements are covered individually by different subclasses, groups or subgroups, the document is classified with a C-Set.
The following rules apply:
- The first element of the C-Set corresponds to the first relevant (sub)group mentioned in the classification scheme independently of the importance or relevance of the element in the whole fertiliser mixture;
- the following element or elements of the C-Set are added sequentially in the order in which they appear in the classification scheme to the first element using a ",".
Example: a fertiliser containing a mixture of superphosphate (C05B 1/02), ammonium nitrate (C05C 1/00) and potassium chloride (C05D 1/02) will be given the C-Sets C05B 1/02, C05C 1/00, C05D 1/02.
Example: a fertiliser containing a mixture of either superphosphate (C05B 1/02) or ammonium nitrate (C05C 1/00) with potassium chloride (C05D 1/02) will be given the C-Sets C05B 1/02, C05D 1/02 and C05C 1/00, C05D 1/02.
- Processes where the composting step is the characterising feature, or apparatus therefor, are classified in groups C05F 17/00 or C05F 17/90.
In this place, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:
fertiliser (fertiliser material) | natural or artificial substance containing the chemical elements that improve growth and productiveness of plants. |
In patent documents, the following words/expressions are often used as synonyms:
- "amendment", "plant food", "plant nutrient", "agricultural chemical", "enrichment" and "fertiliser"
In patent documents, the following words/expressions are often used with the meaning indicated:
enrichment | fertiliser |
soil amendment | composition capable of modifying the chemical (pH) or physical (structure) condition of soils for agricultural purposes |
This place covers:
Fertilisers made from whole animal corpses; from parts of animals which can not be more specifically classified in the subgroups of this group, such as non differentiated processes for treating fish or meat or animal derived materials; fertilisers from general materials such as proteinaceous materials and animal material not further specified.
This place does not cover:
Fertilisers from animal excrements |
Mixtures of these fertilizers with other fertilizers belonging individually to other groups of the classification will be given a Combination-set as explained under the Note for class C05.
This place covers:
Fertilisers from animal excrements, manure, liquid manure, etc.
This place does not cover:
Fertilisers from waste water, sludge or similar masses | |
Processing liquids by a fermentation step | |
Treating manure |
Documents relating to a manure composition or process for its preparation in combination with an apparatus for obtaining thereof are classified as the Combination-set (C05F 3/00, C05F 3/06 ).
Mixtures of these fertilizers with other fertilizers belonging individually to other groups of the classification will be given a Combination-set as explained in the Note under C05.
This place covers:
Apparatus for the manufacture of fertilisers from excrements of animal or human origin.
Closets for human excrements are classified under A47K 11/00.
Treatment of animal manure is classified under A01C 3/00.
This place does not cover:
Apparatus for composting excrement |
- Apparatus to manufacture fertilisers are classified primarily in the corresponding groups of the C05 field.
- All information contained in a document, claims but also examples or other part of the description can be classified if they are considered to contain relevant information in the field.
- Group C05F 3/06 covers all apparatus for the manufacture of fertilisers from excrements of animal or human origin.
- Since the group has no further subdivisions all documents relating to these sorts of apparatus should be classified in this group.
- If the structure of the apparatus contains technical details relevant for classification in other fields, extra symbols in other relevant fields might be given. This group is non-limiting, i.e. it is possible to have documents classified here and in other relevant groups.
As an example, a bio-mass processing system wherein one or more mixers, mixes a bed of bio-mass material such as manure in a defined length and width portion of the bed, in a dryer, is classified in C05F 3/06 but also in F26B 9/00 (machines or apparatus for drying solid materials) and F26B 23/00 (heating arrangements).
This place covers:
This group covers processes for producing fertilizers from waste water, sewage sludge, sea slime, ooze or similar masses, and the corresponding products
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Methods or installations for de-watering, drying or incineration of sewage sludge |
This place covers:
Fertilisers from wastes from human settlements, garbage, waste paper etc.
Treatment of town refuse B09B.
This place does not cover:
Fertilisers from town/sewage sludge |
Mixtures of these fertilizers with other fertilizers belonging individually to other groups of the classification will be given a Combination-set as explained under Note for class C05.
Fertilisers from town refuse treated by a fermentation process should always be given a classification in C05F 17/00.
This place covers:
Composted material per se obtained from household waste or any other source where no pertinent class exists in C05F 17/00.
This place does not cover:
Preparation of fertilizers from household or town refuse characterised by the composting step |
When a fertiliser mixture contains mature compost as one of its components, the subgroup C05F 9/04 should be given in combination to the groups corresponding to other components of the fertiliser in order to indicate the presence of compost material in the mixture.
This place covers:
Fertilisers from organic products, natural or synthetic, not covered by any of the previous classes.
Some examples of materials belonging to this class are wood products such as bark or sawdust, fibrous materials, polymers, seaweeds.
This place does not cover:
Humic acids or materials containing them, peat, coal and similar |
This place covers:
Materials containing humic substances or materials capable of supplying humic materials after treatment. Humic materials themselves e.g. humic acids, fulvic acids, himatomelanic acids etc.
This place covers:
Peat based horticultural earth, an organic fertiliser.
This place does not cover:
Growth substrates containing peat |
This place covers:
All processes for obtaining a fertilizer by fermentation of organic wastes not covered by one of the further subgroups.
No Combination-sets are used in this group and its subgroups.
Every aspect of a document is classified separately with the pertinent codes.
Worm breeding is classified in A01K 67/33.
This place covers:
Fermentation processes where materials are added or extracted in order to modify the course of the fermentation.
Typical compounds are pH adjusters, structure-improving materials, etc.
This place does not cover:
Using specific microorganisms or substances for activating or stimulating the treatment |
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Chemical or biological purification of waste gases |
This place covers:
Fermentation processes where specific microorganisms are added.
This place does not cover:
Use of invertebrates |
This place covers:
Fermentation of liquids or combination of solids and liquids to obtain a compost.
This place covers:
Apparatus for processing wastes by fermentation step which do not fall under any of the subgroups that follow.
No Combination-sets are used in this group and its subgroups.
Every aspect of a document is classified in each relevant group.
This place covers:
Bins, garden composters.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Refuse receptacles | |
Refuse receptacles adapted for compost |
This place covers:
Apparatus with means for forced aeration of composting masses, e.g. aeration patterns.
Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:
Floors roofs or bottoms for drying solid materials |
Devices presenting aeration merely caused by a natural draft is not taken into account for classification in this group.
This place covers:
Humidification devices.