# Engineering/Technical Drawings in history **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319 "2011-08-19T14:54:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/1 "2011-08-19T14:54:45Z")
My google skills don’t seem to be up to the task of this somewhat complicated and specialized question, so here it is: What kind of engineering/technical drawings would an average craftsman (gunsmith, shipwright, mason, architect, etc.) in the early to mid 1800s utilize? What would be their (the drawings’/diagrams’) level of sophistication/standardization? Would a layman who is NOT a craftsman, but a member of a profession that utilizes relatively sophisticated technology for the day (for example, an experienced sailor) recognize the significance of whatever technical/engineering drawings/diagrams were commonly in use at the time, or would they appear to be gibberish? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/2 "2011-08-19T14:59:45Z")
[[Steam engine, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. Transverse elevation of boiler, cistern, etc.]](http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cph.3b51656/) Here is an 18th century steam engine dwg. I have seen some old drawings in the maps of Detroit. They were like art. Lettering and linework was beautiful. They did not try to cut corners in the past like they do now. [http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/362561/view](http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/362561/view) ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/3 "2011-08-19T15:04:46Z")
[Request Rejected](http://www.sil.si.edu/exhibitions/doodles/cf/doodles_alt.cfm) History of engineering drawings. They drew in ink in the old days. How they avoided blobs is beyond me. I have tried it. ---
**Author:** ![randomface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@randomface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randomface)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/4 "2011-08-19T15:12:29Z")
Those drawings are beautiful. I have seen some real blueprints from the Arkansas State Capitol and those were awe inspiring. They even had a sheet or two with calculations. Much more elegant than the current AutoCAD drawings. ---
**Author:** ![Dufus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c77e96/32.png) [@Dufus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dufus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/5 "2011-08-20T16:57:22Z")
Even the [drawing instruments](http://collectingme.com/drawing/) that they used were beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/6 "2011-08-22T07:14:25Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > [http://www.sil.si.edu/exhibitions/doodles/cf/doodles\_alt.cfm](http://www.sil.si.edu/exhibitions/doodles/cf/doodles_alt.cfm) History of engineering drawings. They drew in ink in the old days. How they avoided blobs is beyond me. I have tried it. Lots of practice… and occasonal use of a little razor, to scrape off small blots. I studied draftsmanship for 7 years; the first 2 years were pencil only, the next ones we had to ink the drawings - on the most absorbent paper ever invented by man. I once presented 23 copies of a single drawing to show that, while I hadn’t been able to get a clean copy, I could not be accused of “not trying hard enough” (something I was quite sick of hearing, generally from teachers who couldn’t explain what they wanted in a way I understood). Moving to _papel cebolla_ (non absorbent, translucent: you placed it on top of the pencil drawing and inked directly on the _papel cebolla_) was wonderful: once you’d learned to avoid blots on super-sponge paper, getting one on this was rare enough to have your desk-neighbors remark on it. And when, on the final year, we got to use Rotrings (pens using china ink cartridges, each pen of a fixed width to be used for the different types of lines) instead of instruments where you had to modify line width mechanically and load the ink in between two metal leaves, it was like the drawings drew themselves - we had to worry about placing the lines where we wanted them to be, but blots? What’s that? ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/7 "2011-08-22T14:39:38Z")
Ship builders had been using detailed plans for hundreds of years - see [this plan](http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conMediaFile.15943)from the National Maritime Museum - and engineers like Stevenson or Brunel were using [accurate engineering drawings](http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=stevenson+locomotive+engineering+drawings&hl=en&safe=off&sa=G&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=EqR--ajCR46CEM:&imgrefurl=http://www.locos-in-profile.co.uk/Articles/Early_Locos/early4.html&docid=k6824mjZF4jbHM&w=387&h=284&ei=FGlSTq2ZIoS08QOv3rGpBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=144&vpy=239&dur=1828&hovh=192&hovw=262&tx=116&ty=109&page=1&tbnh=136&tbnw=185&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&biw=1140&bih=716)so I can’t see a naval officer - or any educated man - from the 19th century having a problem interpretting a technical drawing. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/8 "2011-08-22T14:47:48Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > …load the ink in between two metal leaves,… I finally remembered what was the word I really needed: that should read “load the ink in between two metal blades”. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/9 "2011-08-22T14:50:23Z")
> [@MarcusF](#): > > Ship builders had been using detailed plans for hundreds of years - see [this plan](http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conMediaFile.15943)from the National Maritime Museum - and engineers like Stevenson or Brunel were using [accurate engineering drawings](http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=stevenson+locomotive+engineering+drawings&hl=en&safe=off&sa=G&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=EqR--ajCR46CEM:&imgrefurl=http://www.locos-in-profile.co.uk/Articles/Early_Locos/early4.html&docid=k6824mjZF4jbHM&w=387&h=284&ei=FGlSTq2ZIoS08QOv3rGpBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=144&vpy=239&dur=1828&hovh=192&hovw=262&tx=116&ty=109&page=1&tbnh=136&tbnw=185&start=0&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&biw=1140&bih=716)so I can’t see a naval officer - or any educated man - from the 19th century having a problem interpretting a technical drawing. MarcusF- thanks very much for those links, that’s pretty much exactly what I was looking for. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/10 "2011-08-22T14:52:16Z")
No problem 🙂 ETA One thing I should have added in responding to your OP: I don’t believe the drawing conventions were standardised. I can’t find a good reference but I suspect each shipwright/engineer used his own style. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2011, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/engineering-technical-drawings-in-history/593319/11 "2011-08-22T19:41:34Z")
There was an article in _Scientific American_ several years ago about plans for a Greek Temple that were found scribed on some of the building’s stones.