The English idiom “to go back to the drawing board” which is a figurative phrase meaning to rethink something altogether was inspired by the literal act of discovering design errors during production and returning to a drawing board to revise the engineering drawing. For centuries until the post-World War II era all engineering drawing was done manually by using pencil and pen on paper or other substrate. Since the advent of computer- aided design (CAD) engineering drawing has been done more and more in the electronic medium with each passing decade. Today most engineering drawing is done with CAD but pencil and paper have not disappeared.
Engineering drawing has evolved into a language that is more precise and unambiguous than other natural languages; in this sense it is closer to a programming language in its communication ability. It uses an extensive set of conventions to convey information this is precise with next to no ambiguity. An engineering drawing is a legal document because it communicates all the needed information about “what is wanted” to the people who will expend resources turning the idea into a reality. It is thus a part of a contract; the purchase order and the drawing together as well as any ancillary documents constitute the contract.
This book explores the significance of this subject in great detail and is handy for students as well as industry professionals.
