1 Introduction to Basic Technical Drawing

1.1 History of Drawing of the eighteenth century. This development

provides the basis of descriptive geometry,
For what purpose drawing is used around your
school or around your city? the science which treats the graphical
description of objects of three dimensions
People learned to draw pictures of the and provides problems designed to develop
objects around them long before they learned the ability to visualize and to solve problems.
to write. The ability to make simple drawings
The original and natural method of
helped people develop their first written
describing the forms of objects is by means
language. There were no words or characters
of drawings. Written or spoken language is
in ancient writing. Ideas of things were
inadequate to describe any but the most
conveyed by pictures of the battles, and
elementary forms. There are two divisions of
hunting was recorded in these “picture”
drawings; artistic and technical. Artistic
languages. Drawings carved by primitive
drawings are outside the scope of this text.
people on rocks, walls of caves and so forth
An artistic drawing has many techniques and
have survived to our day.
expressions that are not used in technical
Many drawings of human beings, animals, drawings. First of all, a technical drawing
fish and so on, made by our forefathers must communicate the same message to
thousands of years ago, have been found on every user or reader of the drawing, whereas
the eastern shore of lake Onega and on the an artistic drawing is usually interpreted
shores of the White Sea. These drawings differently by everyone who sees it. To limit
were carved on granite rocks with stone (flint) the interpretation to only one possible
tools. (Fig.1.1) conclusion, the technical drawing is
History indicates that drawings were used in controlled by accepted standards, drawing
ancient times to describe the exact forms and "conventions" and projection techniques.
sizes of structures. The Bible states that Technical drawing is the art and science of
Solomon’s Temple was “built of stone made describing structures and structural details
ready before it was brought thither,” completely and accurately by graphical
indicating that drawings were used to means.
describe the forms of and sizes of the
Technical drawing may be made with
individual members of historic structure.
instruments, or freehand, or partly with
The theory of projection drawing was instruments and partly freehand.
advanced to an academic study by the Instrumental drawing is the term usually
introduction of two planes of projection at applied to technical drawings executed with
right angles to each other by French instruments; technical sketching applies to
mathematician Gaspard Monge, near the end

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1 Introduction to Basic Technical Drawing
such drawings executed without the aid of which you live and work; the appliances in
instruments. your home- dishwashers, can openers, dryers,
toasters; the methods of transportation - cars,
trains, ships, airplanes; the systems that
support your life - plumbing, electricity; even
what you wear was conceived and brought
into being by the effective use of engineering
drawings. Few items get manufactured or
produced with out an engineering drawing.

Technical drawings must contain everything

needed for proper interpretation of the
design because design and manufacturing
may be located far apart - often in different
countries.
Therefore technical drawing has extensive
application especially for architectures and
engineers. So the art and design that goes
into making buildings is known as
architecture. To communicate all aspects of
Fig. 1.1 Characters and objects taken from an
ancient wall. the design, detailed drawings are used.
Architectural drawings describe and
Activity 1.1 document an architect's design.
Show with simple line drawing the direction Engineering can be a very broad term. It
from your school to your home? Ask comment
stems from the Latin “ingenerare”, meaning
from your teacher.
"to create". Because this could apply to
1.2 Areas/Professional everything that humans create, it is given a
Disciplines of Technical narrower definition in the context of
Drawing technical drawing. Engineering drawings
Drawing is a tool used by engineers and generally deal with mechanical engineered
items, such as manufactured parts and
industrial designers to design a product,
equipment.
solve a problem, or produce a product.
Engineering drawings are usually created in
Almost everything around you began as an
accordance with standardized conventions
idea and then as a drawing. The buildings in

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1 Introduction to Basic Technical Drawing
for layout, nomenclature, interpretation, conservatively speaking, at least a 30 percent
appearance (such as line styles), size, etc. Its improvement in production in terms of time
purpose is to accurately and unambiguously spent drawing.
capture all the geometric features of a
product or a component. The end goal of an 1.4 Use and Educational Value
engineering drawing is to convey all the of Technical Drawing
required information that will allow a
A student who successfully completed this
manufacturer to produce that component.
course can use drawings to communicate
1.3 Technical Drawing Today technical information with engineers, desig-
(Computer Aided Design ners, draft persons and other professionals.
and Drafting) By studying technical drawing, a student be-
Technical drawings had been produced by comes aware of how industry communicates
the help of drawing instruments and tradit- technical information.
ional pencil-on-paper drafting is referred to
Technical drawing teaches the principle of
as manual drafting. However, nowadays
accuracy and clarity in presenting the
different softwares are available to do design
information necessary to produce products.
and drafting.
In general, technical drawing helps students
Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD) to understand a means of transmission of
involve any type of design activity that uses
accurate information from designers to those
the computer to develop, analyze, modify or
who develop the objects that are described by
enhance an engineering design. CADD
systems are based on interactive computer drawing. Therefore, the course enables
graphics. The engineer creates an image on students to be motivated for further studies
the monitor by entering commands on the pertinent to drawing.
computer.
CADD can serve as a full partner in the Key terms
design process, enabling the designers to do
Descriptive geometry: the system of
jobs that are simply not possible or feasible
geometry that uses plane projections and
with manual equipment. perspective drawings of solid figures,
Besides increasing the speed with which a usually in order to describe and analyze
their properties for engineering and
job is done, a CADD can perform many of the
manufacturing purposes.
tedious and repetitive skills ordinarily
required of drafter. It has proved to be,

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1 Introduction to Basic Technical Drawing

UNIT SUMMARY
Technical drawing is a universal language by means of which the form, size, finish,
colour, and construction of an object can be described accurately and clearly.
Therefore it is the language used by engineers and architects to develop and record
their ideas and to transmit them to those who are to execute their designs.
There are two basic types of drawings: artistic and technical. The artistic drawings
are used to express the feelings, beliefs, philosophies, or abstract ideas of the artist.
Technical drawing, on the other hand, is not subtle or abstract.
Drawing is used by engineers, technicians, and skilled craftsmen. Whether this
drawing is made freehand (sketching) or by the use of drawing instruments
(mechanical drawing), it is needed to convey all the necessary information to the
individual who will fabricate and assemble the object be it a building, ship, aircraft,
or mechanical device.

Today, the mechanics of the drafting task have largely been automated and
accelerated through the use of Computer Aided Design and Drafting systems
(CADD). Computer-aided design is the use of computer technology to aid in the
design and particularly the drafting of a part or product, including entire buildings.

The student of technical drawing should attain a knowledge of fundamental

principles presented in this text and as much skill as possible in drawing. To
become a finished draftsman, he must also acquire knowledge of the details of
construction employed in the branch of engineering sciences.