Patent Drawings 1

[Eltron]

I was just wondering if anyone out there is using their solid models to churn out drawings for patent literature. I'm just wondering what your work flow is for the process.

As an example, I currently draw my widget, make a drawing file, save it as a .dxf, import it into another program (like Adobe Illustrator), and then I doctor it up to USPTO standards.

Anyone else doing this? Any advise or mockingly derisive comments are appreciated.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[ctopher]

I'm curious also. I have not done this yet and would like to learn about patent dwgs.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 2.0
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)

 

[TheTick]

If you're going to Illustrator, have you tried PDF?

 

[takedownca]

The only time I have issues is with shading. Solidworks obviously doesn't do automated stippling or striping, which are the only shading methods allowed. However, if the view doesn't require shading, I can usually complete the entire thing in SW. The only real annoyance is the curved leader used by reference numerals. I use BOM ballons without borders or leaders, then manually fill in the leaders with splines. I should write a macro to automate that somehow...

 

[ctopher]

Maybe save as a .dwg and open in ACAD 2008. It does curved leaders and Autodesk Illustrator does a very nice job.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 2.0
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)

 

[Eltron]

So at least I'm not the only one. I have the same issues as Takedownca does: shading, hatching, and those curvy leaders. Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand or Inkscape (open source) seem to pick up the slack where SW leaves off. Thankfully, it seems like the criteria for patent drawings have become a little less stringent in the past couple of years.

I guess I'm just curious why SW (or someone else) doesn't have an add-in available so you can just seamlessly translate the engineering drawings into patent drawings directly.

Chris, Nolo Press has a good book titled "How to Make Patent Drawings" and everything else is on the USPTO website.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[Theophilus]

I've done drawings for several patents just using SolidWorks drawings as the output (well, perhaps exported to PDF or converted to an image file). I have a drawing template with the tweaked line formats I use for quick patent drawings. Again, no shading, but that's often not necessary.



Jeff Mowry

http://www.industrialdesignhaus.com

What did you dream? It's all right--we told you what to dream.
--Pink Floyd, Welcome to the Machine

 

[ctopher]

Thanks Dan, I will look into it.

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 2.0
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)

 

[Eltron]

There is also a presentation by Steve Katsaros of RevoPower, Inc that I found very helpful on the COSUG website:

http://www.cosug.com/Downloads.html

Thanks for the input, guys.

Dan

http://www.eltronresearch.com

 

[ctopher]

Dan, good find! Thank you!

Chris
SolidWorks/PDMWorks 08 2.0
AutoCAD 06/08
ctopher's home (updated 10-07-07)