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You
will find it easier to write the description
and claims if you have the drawings at
hand. Drawings must be included with your application if the subject matter
can be illustrated. They should show every feature of your invention that
is defined in your claims. If your invention cannot be illustrated, but
you can describe it using photographs, include the photographs or copies
in your application.
There are regulations for the size
of the paper and the format, the colour of the drawings, their proportion,
how they are numbered and referred to, and how they are included in the
application.
To prepare your patent drawings:
Use good
quality paper for your patent drawing
There can’t be any folds or creases,
erasures, or underlining in the drawings as they must be capable of being
electronically reproduced. The paper size should be 21.6 cm wide by 27.9
cm long and the dimensions for the margins are:
top and left 2.5 cm
right 1.5cm
bottom 1.0cm
Please don’t write anything in the
margins.
Do your
patent drawings in black and white
Do not use colour except in rare
cases. The lines should be well-defined, dense and dark so that they can
be accurately reproduced. You must use hatching (fine, parallel lines)
to indicate cross-sections and be careful that the hatching does not obscure
any of your reference characters.
Maintain
the correct proportions in your patent drawing
Draw all the elements of the same
figure in proportion to each other unless a difference in proportion is
essential to make the drawing clear.
Number each
figure and element in your patent drawing
Each drawing or figure as well as
each described element of the drawing must be numbered. Number the figures
consecutively and make the numbers at least 0.32 cm high. Number only the
features that you will mention in the description. For example, there shouldn’t
be numbered elements in the drawings that aren’t referred to in the description.
Use the same number for each element if it is repeated in several drawings.
Don’t include any text with your drawings unless the text is necessary
for the reader to understand the drawings.
Assemble
the patent drawings
You can place several drawings on
one page. If you have partial drawings that are meant to be assembled to
show the invention as a whole, you must place the figures so that the whole
drawing can be assembled without concealing any of the individual figures.
The drawings are placed together at the end of the application, after the
claims.
Examples of Patent Drawings
Collapsible tent frame
In this example of drawings from
a tent frame patent, different views are shown of the same elements. Note
that the same elements in each figure have the same number.
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 Separable
electrical connector
These drawings show three different
views of an electrical connector. |
Next
page > Patent Descriptions
The source of this information on
patent drawings came from the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. The
tips would also be helpful for patent applications to the USPTO or WIPO.
The CIPO is in no way affiliated with Primedia/About.
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