QUICK REFERENCE DRAWING STANDARDS FOR DESIGN PATENTS

Source: https://www.uspto.gov/patents-getting-started/patent-basics/types-patent-applications/design-patent-application-guide

See video on ‘How to make patent drawings’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fRB14m9Dtc

See video on how this document was created ‘Find Patent Drawing Standards’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7ar9FtfbTs

See video on tools used to create and file patent drawings

Patent Drawing Tools I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pu29MJyhjg
Patent Drawing Tools II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbPK8zK6xoQ

Size of paper
• All drawing sheets in an application must be the same size.
• One of the shorter sides of the sheet is regarded as its top.
• Size of the sheets on which drawings are made must be DIN A4 or 8.5 x 11 Inches.

DOCUMENT CENTIMETERS MILLIMETERS

DIN A4 21.0 cm x 29.7 cm 210 mm x 297 mm
8 ½ x 11 21.6 cm x 27.9 cm 216 mm x 279 mm

Margins

See video for ‘Patent Drawing Margins’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y7siIP6nlA

Sheets must not contain frames around the sight (the usable surface), but should have scan target points
(ire., cross hairs) printed on two cater-corner margin corners. Basically meaning that the margins should
not be visible and you shouldn’t surround them with any kind of frame.

MARGIN INCHES CENTIMETERS MILLIMETERS

Top 1” 2.5 cm 25.4 mm
Left 1” 2.5 cm 25.4 mm
Right 5/8” 1.5 cm 15 mm
Bottom 3/8” 1.0 cm 10 mm

Note: General rule in the ‘Patent Drawing’ industry is to use 1” all around to avoid confusion.

MARGIN INCHES
Top 1”
Left 1”
Right 1”
Bottom 1”

Character of lines
Every line, number, and letter must be durable, clean, black.
Color drawings are not permitted.
The weight of all lines and letters must be heavy enough to permit adequate reproduction.
Appropriate and adequate surface shading should be used to show the character or contour of the surfaces
represented. Solid black surface shading is not permitted.

Broken lines may be used to show visible environmental structure, but may not be used to show hidden
planes and surfaces that cannot be seen through opaque materials.

Alternate positions of a design component, illustrated by full and broken lines in the same view are not
permitted in a design drawing.

Shading

See video for ‘Creating Shade Lines For Patent Drawings’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1-kG5Cmm7I

The use of shading in views is encouraged if it aids in understanding the invention and if it does not reduce
legibility. Shading is used to indicate the surface or shape of spherical, cylindrical, and conical elements of
an object. Flat parts may also be lightly shaded. Such shading is preferred in the case of parts shown in
perspective, (but not for cross sections. See paragraph (h)(3))
* Spaced lines for shading are preferred. These lines must be thin, as few in number as practicable, and
they must contrast with the rest of the drawings.
Light should come from the upper left corner at an angle of 45°??
Solid black shading areas are not permitted.

Reference characters
sheet numbers, and view numbers must be plain and legible, and must not be used in association with
brackets or inverted commas, or enclosed within outlines, erg., encircled. (Means just use plain numbers)
English alphabet must be used for letters. Another alphabet is customarily used, such as the Greek
alphabet to indicate angles, wavelengths, and mathematical formulas.

Numbers, letters, and reference characters must measure in the following dimensions

FONT FONT SIZE INCHES CENTIMETERS MILLIMETERS

Sans Serif or Arial 9pt (or 9.7 precise) 1/8” .32 cm 3.2 mm

* They should not be placed in the drawing so as to interfere with its comprehension. (Means no overlap)
* They should not cross or mingle with the lines (Means no overlap)
* Should not be placed upon hatched or shaded surfaces (Means no overlap)
* When necessary, such as indicating a surface or cross section, a reference character may be underlined
and a blank space may be left in the hatching or shading where the character occurs so that it appears
distinct. (Will explain this in another video)
* The same part of an invention appearing in more than one view of the drawing must always be
designated by the same reference character, and the same reference character must never be used to
designate different parts.
* Reference characters not mentioned in the description shall not appear in the drawings (Means if you’re
going to mention it in the description then you must have a drawing for it.)
* Reference characters mentioned in the description must appear in the drawings (Means if you’re going to
have it in the drawing you must have a description for it)

Lead lines
Lead lines are those lines between the reference characters and the details referred to
Such lines may be straight or curved and should be as short as possible.
They must originate in the immediate proximity of the reference character and extend to the feature
indicated.
Lead lines must not cross each other. (Means no overlap)
Lead lines are required for each reference character except for those, which indicate the surface or cross
section on which they are placed. (Will explain this in another video)
Such a reference character must be underlined to make it clear that a lead line has not been left out by
mistake.
Lead lines must be executed in the same way as lines in the drawing. (Means a lead line should maintain
the same orientation as the object it’s referring too – Will cover this in another video)

Arrows
Arrows may be used at the ends of lines, provided that their meaning is clear, as follows:

A freestanding arrow to indicate the entire section towards which it points.

An arrow touching a line to indicate the surface shown by the line looking along the direction of the arrow.
To show the direction of movement.

Scale

See video for ‘Patent Drawing Scale’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChOmeJhSIQ0

The scale to which a drawing is made must be large enough to show the mechanism without crowding
when the drawing is reduced in size to two-thirds in reproduction. Indications such as "actual size" or "scale
1/2" on the drawings are not permitted since these lose their meaning with reproduction in a different
format. (Meaning when the design is reduced to 66% of its normal view; that all lines are still legible, and
not crowding together)

This requirement applies to all lines however fine, to shading, and to lines representing cut surfaces in
sectional views.

Numbering of sheets of drawings

The sheets of drawings should be numbered in consecutive Arabic numerals, starting with 1, within the
sight as defined in paragraph (g)
Must be placed in the middle of the top of the sheet, but not in the margin.
Numbers can be placed on the right-hand side if the drawing extends too close to the middle of the top
edge. Sheet numbering must be clear and larger than the numbers used as reference characters
The number of each sheet should be shown by two Arabic numerals placed on either side of an oblique
line, with the first being the sheet number and the second being the total number of sheets of drawings,
with no other marking. (Meaning like this: 1/12, 2/12, 3/12… etc)

Views

See video for ‘Patent Views Defined’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GptmZ6QSXdo

Drawing must contain a sufficient number of views to constitute a complete disclosure of the appearance of
the design. Drawing must contain as many views as necessary to show the invention.

Views may be the following types:

• Plan - Looking down at an object (over-head view).

• Elevation - Means looking at an objects profile (looking at the profile or at the side).
• Section - Means looking at sectional portions of a larger view.
• Perspective - Means looking at an object from a 3/4 or 45 degree perspective angle.
Detail views of portions of elements, on a larger scale if necessary, may also be used. All views of the
drawing must be grouped together and arranged on the sheet(s) without wasting space, preferably in an
upright position, clearly separated from one another.

About ‘Orthographic’ & ‘Isometric Views’

An "orthographic" view of an object is simply a single view of that object from a 2-dimensional flat "plan"
(overhead) or "elevation" (profile) view.
An isometric (Greek for "equal measure") drawing is a form of axonometric projection with the viewer
seeing all three axes (width, depth, height) equally foreshortened.

See video for ‘Center Lines Are Not Permitted In Patent Drawings’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvMi7TzyzWI

Views must not be included in the sheets containing the specifications, claims,
or abstract.
Views must not be connected by projection lines and must not contain center-
lines.

← Center Lines are not permitted.

Front page view
The drawing must contain as many views as necessary to show the invention. One of the views should be
suitable for inclusion on the front page of the patent application publication and patent as the illustration of
the invention. (This is generally a shaded perspective view)

Numbering of views
The different views must be numbered in consecutive Arabic numerals, starting with 1, independent of the
numbering of the sheets and, if possible, in the order in which they appear on the drawing sheet(s).

View numbers must be preceded by the abbreviation "FIG." The abbreviation “FIG” is NOT permissible
when using a single view nor is view to be numbered.

Partial views intended to form one complete view, on one or several sheets, must be identified by the same
number followed by a capital letter. (Meaning if you’re going to add a ‘partial view’ (to FIG. 1 for example) to
include more detail of a design element; you’ll need to give the ‘partial view’ a FIG number like FIG. 1A,
FIG. 1B, etc. Basically all added partial views will contain a letter following the number of the original
Figure.)
Numbers and letters identifying the views must be simple and clear and must not be used in association
with brackets, circles, or inverted commas. The view numbers must be larger than the numbers used for
reference characters.

Exploded views
Exploded views, with the separated parts embraced by a bracket, to show the relationship or order of
assembly of various parts are permissible. When an exploded view is shown in a figure, which is on the
same sheet as another figure, the exploded view should be placed in brackets. (Will cover in another
video)

Arrangement of views
One view must not be placed upon another or within the outline of another. (Means no overlap)
All views on the same sheet should stand in the same direction and, if possible, stand so that they can be
read with the sheet held in an upright position. (Means all views should maintain the same orientation
when represented together)

If views wider than the width of the sheet are necessary for the clearest illustration of the invention, the
sheet may be turned on its side so that the top of the sheet, with the appropriate top margin to be used as
the heading space, is on the right-hand side

Words must appear in a horizontal, left-to-right fashion when the page is either upright or turned so that the
top becomes the right side, except for graphs utilizing standard scientific convention to denote the axis of
abscissas (of X) and the axis of ordinates (of Y). (Means keep characters/words aligned horizontally, and
read from left to right as usual)