Patent It Yourself - PDF Archive

ChaPter 10 | FINALING and MAILING Your APPLICATION | 261
Summary of PTO Drawing Rules
1. Need for Drawings: Drawings (or only a single drawing)
must be filed whenever necessary to understand the
invention.
2. Flowcharts: Flowcharts should also be included whenever
useful for an understanding of the invention.
3. Must Show Features Claimed: The drawings must
show every feature recited in the claims.
4. Conventional Features: Conventional features that
are not essential for an understanding of the invention,
but are mentioned in the description and claims, can
be shown by a graphical drawing symbol or a labeled
rectangular box. For example, a motor can be shown
by an encircled “M,” and a CPU in a computer can be
shown by a rectangle labeled “CPU.”
5. Improvements: When your invention consists of an
improvement in an old machine, the drawing should
show the improved portion disconnected from the
old structure with only so much of the old structure
as is necessary to show how your improvement fits
in. For example, if you’ve invented a new taillight for
a bicycle, show the bicycle itself with the new taillight
(without detail) in one figure labeled as “prior art.” Then
show just the portion of the bike where the taillight
is mounted in detail in another figure, together with
details of the mounting hardware.
6. Paper: The filed drawings (xerographic copies if filing
in paper) should be on paper that is flexible, strong,
white, smooth, nonshiny, and durable. Ordinary 20
pound bond is acceptable. You should do the originals
on Mylar film, vellum, or hard, rather than soft, Bristol
board; this is available in most good art supply stores.
Strathmore Paper Co. makes excellent patent drawing
boards in both U.S. and A4 sizes (about $1 per sheet),
but you can get your sheets more economically by
buying larger sheets of hard Bristol board and cutting
them to the proper size. If you’re using CAD, do the
originals on regular bond and, since additional originals
are so easy to make, send the originals to the PTO.
(Keep your disk copy and a backup of your drawing
file!) If filing by EFS-Web and you’ve made the drawings
on paper, scan the drawings to PDF. If you’ve made the
drawings in the computer, convert the computer files
to PDF using CutePDF (or any other PDF conversion
program) and file the PDFs online.
7. Lines: The main requirement for all drawings is that
all lines must be crisp and perfectly black. For paper
copies, a good photocopy on good quality bond paper
is usually used and the lines should be crisp and sharp.
A good xerographic copy from a dark-penciled original
will be accepted. Jagged slant lines from a dot matrix
printer or bitmapped drawing program are forbidden
for formal drawings. For EFS-Web filers, the same sharp,
black lines are required on PDF versions.
Lines the PTO Recognizes on Drawings:
Normal Lines: Use a solid thin line ( ) to
show regular parts and a thick solid line ( )
to show a shadowed edge—see Rule 14—or hatching
a cross-section.
Hidden Lines: This is a dashed line (– – – – – – – –)
to show a part behind another part—see Fig. 8C.
Projection Lines: This is composed of alternating long
dashes and dots (— • — • — • ) and is used to connect
exploded parts—see Fig. 8D.
Phantom Lines: Similar to a projection line, but which
uses two dots instead of one (— • • — • • — • • ); this is
used to show an alternate position of a movable part,
or on an adjacent structure which is not part of the
invention.
8. White Pigment: The use of white pigment (for example,
White Out, Liquid Paper) to cover lines is now
acceptable, provided all lines are sharp and black.
9. Uniform Size: All drawing sheets in an application must
be exactly sized in the same U.S. letter or A4 size. Fig.
10B shows these two sizes.
10. Invisible Margins: The margins must not contain any
lines or writing; all writing and lines must be in the
remaining “sight” (drawing area) on the sheet. Margin
border lines are forbidden, but crosshairs (about 1 cm
long) should be drawn over two opposite (catercorner)
margin corners.
11. No Holes: The drawing sheets should not contain any
holes.
12. Instrument Work: All lines must be made with drafting
tools or a CAD computer program. Copies made by a
laser printer must be very dense, sharp, uniformly thick,
and black. Fine or crowded lines must be avoided. Solid
black areas are not permitted. Freehand work must be
avoided unless necessary.
13. Hatching: Parts in section must be filled with
slanted parallel lines (hatching) that are spaced apart
sufficiently so that they can be distinguished without
difficulty. Crisscross and double-line hatching is
forbidden.