From Mary Bellis,
Your Guide to Inventors.
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You are required by patent law to furnish patent drawings of your invention whenever patent drawing are necessary for the understanding of the invention.

In reality, patent drawings must be filed with almost every patent application. This includes practically all inventions, except compositions of matter or processes, but patent drawings may also be very useful in the case of many processes.

All patent drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims, and is required by the Patent Office Standards to be in a particular form.

No names or other identification will be permitted within the “sight” of the drawing, and applicants are expected to use the space above and between the hole locations to identify each sheet of drawings. This identification may consist of the attorney’s name and docket number or the inventor’s name and application number and may include the sheet number and the total number of sheets filed (for example, “sheet 2 of 4”).

The Patent Offices Says

The Patent Office does specify the size sheets on which patent drawings are made, the type of paper, the margins, and other details relating to the making of the patent drawings. The reason for specifying the standards in detail is that the patent drawings are printed and published in a uniform style when the patent issues, and the patent drawings must also work with the descriptions.

Reference Material

• Rules for Patent Drawing Standards
• Tips on Making Patent Drawings
• Examples of Design Patents - Shading
  This is from the guide to design patents not utilty patents, however, a good example of line shading is provided and this would serve utilty patents as well.

Next > Detailed Instructions of Drawing Requirements for Patent Applications