C10M - Definition

Definition statement

This subclass covers:

Lubricating compositions, including liquid and non-liquid compositions and compositions based on inorganic materials, lubricant compositions containing more than 10% water.

Use of chemical substances either alone or as ingredients in a lubricating composition, including the nature of the base materials, thickeners and additives (which may be detergents, dispersants, antiwear compounds, friction modifiers, antioxidants, sludge inhibitors, etc.).

Working up used lubricants to recover useful products.

Preparation or chemical after-treatment of lubricating compositions.

Relationship between large subject matter areas

Lubricant compositions specially adapted for certain particular applications (e.g. mould release agents, well-drilling compositions etc.) are classified in other subclasses – see the section "References relevant to classification in this subclass".

The use of known lubricants for relevant purposes is classified in the corresponding place, e.g. the use in harvesters or mowers is classified in A01D 69/12.

Subclass C10N is an indexing subclass associated with this subclass, and is for indexing features that are of interest in disclosures classified in this subclass, e.g. properties, uses or special modifications of lubricating compositions.

References relevant to classification in this subclass

This subclass does not cover:

Informative references

Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:

Special rules of classification

1. In this subclass, in the absence of an indication to the contrary, classification is made 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.

2. In this subclass:

a. metal or ammonium salts of a compound are classified as that compound;

b. salts or adducts formed between two or more organic compounds are classified according to all compounds forming the salt or adduct, if of interest;

c. a specified compound, e.g. phenols, acids, substituted by a macromolecular hydrocarbon radical is classified as that compound;

d. 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;

e. 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 composition.

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.

3. Any part of a composition which is not identified by the classification according to Rules 1 and 2 above, and which itself is determined to be novel and non-obvious, must also be classified in the last appropriate place. The part can be either a single ingredient or a composition in itself.

4. Any part of a composition which is not identified by the classification according to Rules 1 to 3 above, and which is considered to represent information of interest for search, may also be classified in the last appropriate place. This can, for example, be the case when it is considered of interest to enable searching of compositions using a combination of classification symbols. Such non-obligatory classification should be given as "additional information".

Glossary of terms

In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:

Synonyms and Keywords

In patent documents the following abbreviations are often used: