IPC Publication

Note(s)

• The following notes are meant to assist in the use of this part of the classification scheme; they must not be read as modifying in any way the elaborations.
  • In this sub-section, the separation of different materials, e.g. of different matter, size, or state, is predominantly found in the following subclasses:
    • B01D
    • B03B, B03C, B03D
    • B04B, B04C
    • B07B, B07C.
  • The classifying characteristics of these subclasses are:
    • the physical state of the matter to be separated;
    • the principle of the process used;
    • particular kinds of apparatus.

    The first of these characteristics involves six different aspects, assembled in three groups:

    • liquid/liquid or liquid/gas and gas/gas;
    • solid/liquid or solid/gas;
    • solid/solid.

  • These subclasses are to be used according to the following general rules:
    • B01D is the most general class as far as separation other than solids from solids is concerned.
    • Apparatus for separating solids from solids are covered by B03B when the process concerned is regarded as the equivalent of "washing" in the sense of the mining art, even if such apparatus is a pneumatic one, especially pneumatic tables or jigs. Screens per se are not covered by this subclass but are classified in B07B, even if they are being used in a wet process. All other apparatus for the separation of solids from solids according to dry methods are classified in B07B.
    • If the separation takes place as a result of the detection or measurement of some feature of the material or articles to be sorted it is classified in B07C.
    • It should also be noted that the separation of isotopes of the same chemical element is covered by B01D 59/00, whatever process or apparatus is employed.

Note(s) [2015.01]

• This class covers :
  • working of metallic materials;
  • working of non-metallic materials, provided that the methods applied are similar to those used in metal-working and not provided for elsewhere;
  • features, specific to machine tools, which relate to a requirement or problem of a nature which is not peculiar to a particular kind of machine tool, e.g. feeding work, which are covered by subclass B23Q, although the realisation of these features may differ according to the kind of machine tool concerned. The said subclass covers such features, in general, even if the feature or a specific function, in any particular case, is to some extent peculiar to, or is claimed only for, machine tools designed for one particular operation; only in exceptional cases are such features classified in the subclass for the machine tool concerned. Certain features of this general nature are, however, referred to subclasses relating to particular metal-working operations, especially B23B, in which case the subclasses in question are not restricted, in respect of those features, to the kind of machine tool with which they are primarily concerned.
• In this class, the following terms or expressions are used with the meanings indicated:
  • "kind of operations" and similar expressions relate to such metal-working operations as boring, drilling, milling and grinding;
  • "kind of machine" means a machine designed for a particular kind of metal-working operation (e.g. a lathe);
  • "form of machine" means a machine of a particular kind adapted or arranged for a particular way of working or for particular work, e.g. face-plate lathe, tailstock lathe, turret lathe;
  • "different machines" covers different forms of machines for performing the same type of metal-working operation, e.g. vertical and horizontal boring machines.
• If details, components, or accessories have no essential feature specific to machine tools, the more general class, e.g. F16, takes precedence.

Note(s) [3]

• In this subclass, groups designating parts of machine tools cover machine tools characterised by constructional features of such parts.
• In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meanings indicated:
  • "controlling" means influencing a variable in any way, e.g. changing its direction or its value (including changing it to or from zero), maintaining it constant, limiting its range of variation;
  • "regulation" means maintaining a variable automatically at a desired value or within a desired range of values. The desired value or range may be fixed, or manually varied, or may vary with time according to a predetermined "programme" or according to variation of another variable. Regulation is a form of control;
  • "automatic control" is often used in the art as a synonym for regulation.
• Attention is drawn to the Notes following the title of class B23.

Note(s)

• In groups B23Q 33/00 or B23Q 35/00, the following term is used with the meaning indicated:
  • "copying" covers the derivation of a required shape from a pattern, of the same or a different shape or scale, by a mechanism or equivalent means controlled by a member following the pattern. The pattern may be a model or drawing, or an element such as a cam incorporated in the operating mechanism of a machine. This term does not cover the derivation of a required shape from simple geometrical shapes, e.g. generating a cycloid by a rolling circle, which in general is provided for in group B23Q 27/00.