The patent applicant is required to furnish at least one drawing of the invention whenever the nature of the case requires a drawing to understand the invention, which in my experience is almost always. You should also not think in terms of a single drawing, but rather in terms of however many drawings are necessary in order to demonstrate what you have invented. Most patent applications have at least several sheets of drawings, with each sheet routinely having multiple views of the invention. You may need to show various views (top, bottom, right, left, etc.) and you may need to break down the invention and show drawings of one or more of the component parts.

The drawings must show every feature of the invention specified in the claims, and it is required by Patent Office rules to be in a particular form. The Office specifies the size of the sheet on which the drawing is made, the type of paper, the margins, and many other hyper-technical details relating to the making of the drawings. The reason for specifying the standards in detail is that the drawings are printed and published in a uniform style when the patent issues, and the drawings must also be such that they can be readily understood by persons using the patent descriptions.

At the application stage there is no need to provide a drawing that formally meets all the requirements set forth in the patent laws, but many of the less technical requirements do apply as of the time of filing. Nevertheless, there are significant benefits to submitting professional patent illustrations at the time of filing. Indeed, it is my opinion that the better view is that formal, professional drawings are essential in any application. Remember, the primary benefit of filing an application is to capture a filing date that can be used to demonstrate priority of invention. In order to capture the full benefit of a filing date, a patent application needs to completely cover the invention and all permutations as of the time the application is filed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the chief patent law court in the United States, has frequently consulted drawings in order to determine what one of skill in the art would have considered disclosed at the time the application was filed. Detailed drawings are indeed worth one thousand words, if not more. This is true because if you accidentally leave something out of the written disclosure, the drawings you submit may save you in the long run, provided of course they are detailed enough to convey nuanced information about your invention. So, the best way to broaden the scope of any application is to file the application with multiple, detailed and professional drawings. The benefit received from professional drawings is well worth the investment.

Now, how do you make the drawings? To be honest with you I don’t know and I don’t want to know. There are so many rules and regulations with respect to patent drawings that I would rather focus my time and energy on the law and the process than on meeting the technical requirements and also trying to figure out a drawing program. This is, in fact, the way virtually all patent attorneys and patent agents treat drawings, which is why we turn to professional patent illustrators to do drawings for us. The benefit of hiring someone is that these folks specialize in patent drawings, they know all of the little picky details, and the drawings they make will be accepted by the Patent Office the first time around.

You will probably be surprised at how affordable it is to hire a professional. Typical charges can run around $100 per drawing sheet, which is very reasonable in light of the importance of drawings and the peace of mind associated with knowing it has been done right. Of course, the overall fee will depend on the number of drawings requested and/or required, as well as the complexity of the drawings.