2D Drawings for Patents

[AMPatentDrawings]

Just wanted to get people's feedback on using Solid Works for preparing patent illustrations. We've used 2D drawing programs up to this point but thinking of upgrading to Solid Works. Thanks!

http://www.ampatentdrawings.com/

 

[MadMango]

Most patent drawings I have seen were based on 3D drawings, but still had that hand-drawn feel. This is usually accomplished via 3rd party software(s). So don't think that getting SolidWorks alone is going to fill all of your expectations.

"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of these Forums?

 

[Updraft]

I have done several patents with drawings straight from SWX. All I had to do was annotate them with numbers and arrows. The attorneys used them directly. I have even had some attorneys that took my SWX models and sent them to their drawing guy who rotated them and sectioned them as necessary.

There are several books that detail what is required and what is suggested for drawings. Some of the stuff that an official drawing guy might want that SWX doesn't do readily is the lines used to shade surfaces such as cylinders. This is easy enough to do on a printed page by hand. By the way, hand drawings and photographs are also allowed in patents.

Use SWX to your advantage!

- - -Updraft

 

[Eltron]

I use SW drawing on patents as well. I usually get the view or section that I need then export it as a .dxf to some other software (such as Inkscape) to get the line weights and text to the standard sizes for patents. Never had a complaint yet.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[AMPatentDrawings]

Thanks for the responses! I guess what I'm really concerned with is efficiency. In some cases, using a 2D drawing program will be the best/quickest way to produce patent drawings, but I also feel like developing the model in SW and then exporting the views so that they can be numbered and shaded will save a ton of time.

For example, I have a set drawings that consists of multiple views of a chair (as an example). By modeling the the chair in SW and then shading/numbering in 2D program should save me a ton of time. If I were to do the job just in a 2D program, I've got to redraw each view from scratch (usually).

Alfonso Martinez
AM Patent Drawings

http://www.ampatentdrawings.com

 

[Eltron]

Exactly. Leverage SW for the different views and hatching.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

Dan's Blog

 

[Burrell]

You are on the right track. I use SWks to create all my products. Hence I already have most of my work already done.

Swks will do the hard part by converting any standard view, section or angled view or exploded view or section view to what you need by creating the Swks 2D drawings (I leave off the border/title block) and exporting as dxf.

Then a 2D vector program can eliminate any extra lines and add notes-leaders, shading and adjust line weights for the final 2D form.

 

[Theophilus]

I have a template with line weights specifically set for patent drawings (and have done MANY patent drawings with SW over the years).

One thing that really helps is to save the view you want in SolidWorks (as a custom view)--and then make sure you add perspective to that view before bringing in the custom view to your drawing. Your patent drawings will then be in perspective (instead of some isometric format), which looks much more convincing than non-perspective views.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

A people governed by fear cannot value freedom.

 

[AMPatentDrawings]

Thanks for all the feedback! It sounds like it's a good idea for us to incorporate SW to help with preparing our patent drawings.

Alfonso Martinez
AM Patent Drawings

http://www.ampatentdrawings.com

 

[Burrell]

Obviously, it is best if you can get the originator of the patent to send you the dxf linework from HIS 3D CAD program, per the Patent Attorney's requests.

That will save you an incredible amount of time, if the inventor already has 3D CAD files.