Specification Practices...

[KBeitel]

I have found in a drafting manual that references:
MIL-STD-490 - Specification Practices.
MIL-S-83490 - Specification, Types and Forms.
DOD-STD-100 - Engineering Drawing Practices.
MIL-STD-961 - Outline of Forms and Instructions for the preparation of specification.

It specifies in 5.6 Underlining - Never underline any portion of a paragraph or word for the sake of emphasis.

I can not find anything regarding underlining in ASME Y14.5M-1995 or ASME Y14.100M-1998. Is there anything in ASME specs that outline the use of underlining on Engineering Drawings?

Take care & have fun!

Kevin

"Hell, there are no rules here -- we're trying to accomplish something." - Thomas A. Edison

 

[MintJulep]

I suspect that this is related to the once common practice of striking out text on drawings rather than erradicating it (does anyone else remember erradicating fluid?)

An underlined section of text might be confused with a missed strike-out.

 

[ewh]

The only underlining I'm familiar with is relative to out of scale dimensions.

Eradicating fluid and sepia paper - that's back when drafting was an art!

 

[ctopher]

As far as I know, the only time something is underlined, is a dimension that dimensions a broken length of something.
My erradicating fluid was unopened for 15 years, I recently opened it and it was dryed up and smelled really bad. Had to find some ammonia to finish off the day! (just kidding)

Chris
Sr. Mechanical Designer, CAD
SolidWorks 2005 SP0.1

 

[GDTGUY]

U.S. industry standard ASME Y14.2M-1992, "Line Conventions and Lettering" does not make any mention of underlining text on an engineering drawing.

However, ASME Y14.5M-1994. "Dimensioning and Tolerancing", paragraph 1.7.9 states that, for a dimension not to scale, the defining dimension is to be underlined with a straight thick line.

So, there are cases where underlining is acceptable.

GDT_GUY

 

[btrueblood]

I've seen older DOD-STD-100 drawings that had the "SECTION A-A" text underlined (and in a larger font) to help make it stand out on a drawing. I learnt it that way myself in technical drawing class. It's less of an issue nowadays, you can just make the font "boldface". So, I'm not sure the rule you speak of (you don't say which of the standards prohibits underlining) applies to drawings.

But, in a "typeset" (i.e. where the majority of the information is contained in written text) specification or standard, generally no underlining is used in the body of the text. All of the text was/is supposed to be taken as gospel (i.e. "thou shalt"), thus no need for emphasis, or at least (again) that's how I learnt it (been a few years since I had to write a spec conforming to MIL/aero standards). Underlining in the old days was used to "set off" the paragraph and section numbering of the document (i.e. make it stand out better on the printed page for clarity). Nowadays I see boldface fonts used for the same purpose in ISO and similar standards.