C
SECTION C — CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
 C

Note(s)

In section C, the definitions of groups of chemical elements are as follows:

  • Alkali metals: Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr
  • Alkaline earth metals: Ca, Sr, Ba, Ra
  • Lanthanides: elements with atomic numbers 57 to 71 inclusive
  • Rare earths: Sc, Y, Lanthanides
  • Actinides: elements with atomic numbers 89 to 103 inclusive
  • Refractory metals: Ti, V, Cr, Zr, Nb, Mo, Hf, Ta, W
  • Halogens: F, Cl, Br, I, At
  • Noble gases: He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, Rn
  • Platinum group: Os, Ir, Pt, Ru, Rh, Pd
  • Noble metals: Ag, Au, Platinum group
  • Light metals: alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, Be, Al, Mg
  • Heavy metals: metals other than light metals
  • Iron group: Fe, Co, Ni
  • Non-metals: H, B, C, Si, N, P, O, S, Se, Te, noble gases, halogens
  • Metals: elements other than non-metals
  • Transition elements: elements with atomic numbers 21 to 30 inclusive, 39 to 48 inclusive, 57 to 80 inclusive, 89 upwards

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.

  1. Section C covers:
    1. pure chemistry, which covers inorganic compounds, organic compounds, macromolecular compounds, and their methods of preparation;
    2. applied chemistry, which covers compositions containing the above compounds, such as: glass, ceramics, fertilisers, plastics compositions, paints, products of the petroleum industry. It also covers certain compositions on account of their having particular properties rendering them suitable for certain purposes, as in the case of explosives, dyestuffs, adhesives, lubricants, and detergents;
    3. certain marginal industries, such as the manufacture of coke and of solid or gaseous fuels, the production and refining of oils, fats and waxes, the fermentation industry (e.g. brewing and wine-making), the sugar industry;
    4. certain operations or treatments, which are either purely mechanical, e.g. the mechanical treatment of leather and skins, or partly mechanical, e.g. the treatment of water or the prevention of corrosion in general;
    5. metallurgy, ferrous or non-ferrous alloys.
    1. In the case of operations, treatments, products or articles having both a chemical and a non-chemical part or aspect, the general rule is that the chemical part or aspect is covered by section C.
    2. In some of these cases, the chemical part or aspect brings with it a non-chemical one, even though purely mechanical, because this latter aspect either is essential to the operation or treatment or constitutes an important element of it; it has seemed, in fact, more logical not to dissociate the different parts or aspects of a coherent whole. This is the case for applied chemistry and for the industries, operations and treatments mentioned in Notes (1)(c), (d) and (e). For example, furnaces peculiar to the manufacture of glass are covered by class C03 and not by class F27.
    3. There are, however, some exceptions in which the mechanical (or non-chemical) aspect carries with it the chemical aspect, for example:
    4. In still other cases, the pure chemical aspect is covered by section C and the applied chemical aspect by another section, such as A, B or F, e.g. the use of a substance or composition for:
    5. When the chemical and mechanical aspects are so closely interlocked that a neat and simple division is not possible, or when certain mechanical processes follow as a natural or logical continuation of a chemical treatment, section C may cover, in addition to the chemical aspect, a part only of the mechanical aspect, e.g. after-treatment of artificial stone, covered by class C04. In this latter case, a note or a reference is usually given to make the position clear, even if sometimes the division is rather arbitrary.

  
CHEMISTRY
 C10
PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
 C10B
DESTRUCTIVE DISTILLATION OF CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS FOR PRODUCTION OF GAS, COKE, TAR, OR SIMILAR MATERIALS (cracking oils C10G; underground gasification of minerals E21B 43/295)  [5]

 C10C
WORKING-UP TAR, PITCH, ASPHALT, BITUMEN; PYROLIGNEOUS ACID (compositions of bituminous materials C08L 95/00; carbon filaments by decomposition of organic filaments D01F 9/14)

 C10F
DRYING OR WORKING-UP OF PEAT  [5]

 C10G
CRACKING HYDROCARBON OILS; PRODUCTION OF LIQUID HYDROCARBON MIXTURES FROM MATERIALS OTHER THAN HYDROCARBONS, e.g. BY DESTRUCTIVE HYDROGENATION (cracking to hydrogen or synthesis gas C01B; cracking or pyrolysis of hydrocarbon gases to well-defined hydrocarbons C07C; cracking to cokes C10B); RECOVERY OF HYDROCARBON OILS FROM OIL-SHALE, OIL-SAND, OR GASES; REFINING MIXTURES MAINLY CONSISTING OF HYDROCARBONS; REFORMING OF NAPHTHA; MINERAL WAXES (inhibiting corrosion or incrustation in general C23F)
 C10G

Note(s)

  1. In this subclass:
  2. In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meanings indicated:
    • "in the presence of hydrogen" or "in the absence of hydrogen" mean treatments in which hydrogen, in free form or as hydrogen generating compounds, is added, or not added, respectively; [3]
    • "hydrotreatment" is used for conversion processes as defined in group C10G 45/00 or group C10G 47/00[3]
    • "hydrocarbon oils" covers mixtures of hydrocarbons such as tar oils or mineral oils. [3]
  3. In this subclass, in the absence of an indication to the contrary, an invention is classified in the last appropriate place. [3]
  4. Inventions relating to processes using enzymes or micro-organisms in order to:
    1. liberate, separate or purify a pre-existing compound or composition, or to
    2. treat textiles or clean solid surfaces of materials
    are further classified in subclass C12S[5]

 C10H
PRODUCTION OF ACETYLENE BY WET METHODS (purification of acetylene C07C 11/24)  [5]

 C10J
PRODUCTION OF PRODUCER GAS, WATER-GAS, SYNTHESIS GAS FROM SOLID CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL, OR MIXTURES CONTAINING THESE GASES (synthesis gas from liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons C01B; underground gasification of minerals E21B 43/295); CARBURETTING AIR OR OTHER GASES  [5]

 C10K
PURIFYING OR MODIFYING THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS OF COMBUSTIBLE GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE

 C10L
FUELS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR (fuels for generating pressure gas, e.g. for rockets, C06D 5/00; candles C11C; nuclear fuel G21C 3/00); NATURAL GAS; SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS OBTAINED BY PROCESSES NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C10G, C10K; LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS; ADDING MATERIALS TO FUELS OR FIRES TO REDUCE SMOKE OR UNDESIRABLE DEPOSITS OR TO FACILITATE SOOT REMOVAL; FIRELIGHTERS  [5]

 C10M
LUBRICATING COMPOSITIONS (well-drilling compositions C09K 7/00); USE OF CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES EITHER ALONE OR AS LUBRICATING INGREDIENTS IN A LUBRICATING COMPOSITION (mould release, i.e. separating, agents for metals B22C 3/00, for plastics or substances in a plastic state, in general B29C 33/56, for glass C03B 40/02; textile lubricating compositions D06M 11/00, D06M 13/00, D06M 15/00; use of particular substances in particular apparatus or conditions, see F16N or the relevant groups for the application, e.g. A21D 8/08, B21C 9/00, H01B 3/18)  [4]
 C10M

Note(s)

  1. In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meanings indicated:
    • "lubricant" or "lubricating composition" includes cutting oils, hydraulic fluids, metal drawing compositions, flushing oils, slushing oils, or the like;
    • "aliphatic" includes "cycloaliphatic". [4]
  2. In respect of the classification of mixtures, attention is drawn to Note (4) (e) below. [4]
  3. In this subclass, in the absence of an indication to the contrary, an invention is classified in the last appropriate place. Thus, a compound having an aromatic ring is classified as aromatic regardless of whether the substituent(s) of interest are on the ring or on an aliphatic part of the molecule. [4]
  4. In this subclass:
    1. metal or ammonium salts of a compound are classified as that compound;
    2. salts or adducts formed between two or more organic compounds are classified according to all compounds forming the salt or adduct, if of interest;
    3. a specified compound, e.g. phenols, acids, substituted by a macromolecular hydrocarbon radical is classified as that compound;
    4. base-materials or thickeners or additives consisting of a mixture for which no specific main group is provided are classified in the most indented group covering all essential constituents of the mixture, for example,

      a base-material mixture of ketone and
      amide group C10M 105/00;

      a base-material mixture of ketone and
      ether group C10M 105/08;

      an additive mixture of long and short
      chain esters group C10M 129/00;

      an additive mixture of short chain aliphatic
      and aromatic carboxylic acids group C10M 129/26;

    5. except for aqueous lubricating compositions containing more than 10% water, which are classified separately, classification is made according to the type of ingredient or mixture of types of ingredient (base-material, thickener or additive) which characterises the invention.

      Attention is drawn to the fact that a mixture of essential ingredients characterised by only one of its components, rather than by the mixture as a whole, is not classified as a mixture, e.g., a lubricating composition consisting of:

      • a known base-material and a new additive is classified only in the "additive" part of the classification scheme;
      • a known base-material with both a thickener and a further additive as essential ingredients, which may be individually known or not, is classified as a mixture of thickener and additive;
      • a known base-material with a combination of additives as essential ingredients, which may be individually known or not, is classified in the appropriate place for the additive mixture. [4]

  5. In this subclass, it is desirable to add the indexing codes relating to:
  6. In this subclass, it is desirable to add the indexing codes of subclass C10N. The indexing codes should be unlinked[4]

 C10N
INDEXING SCHEME ASSOCIATED WITH SUBCLASS C10M  [4]
 C10N

Note(s)

  1. This subclass constitutes an indexing scheme associated with subclass C10M, relating to:
    The indexing codes should be unlinked.
  2. In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meanings indicated:
    • "lubricant" or "lubricating composition" includes cutting oils, hydraulic fluids, metal drawing compositions, flushing oils, slushing oils, or the like;
    • "aliphatic" includes "cycloaliphatic". [4]