Chapter 1 BLUEPRINTS When you have read and understood this chapter, you should be able to answer the following learning objectives: Describe blueprints and how they are produced. Identify the information contained in blueprints. Explain the proper filing of blueprints. Blueprints (prints) are copies of mechanical or other types of technical drawings. The term blueprint reading, means interpreting ideas expressed by others on drawings, whether or not the drawings are actually blueprints. Drawing or sketching is the universal language used by engineers, technicians, and skilled craftsmen. Drawings need to convey all the necessary information to the person who will make or assemble the object in the drawing. Blueprints show the construction details of parts, machines, ships, aircraft, buildings, bridges, roads, and so forth. BLUEPRINT PRODUCTION Original drawings are drawn, or traced, directly on translucent tracing paper or cloth, using black waterproof India ink, a pencil, or computer aided drafting (CAD) systems. The original drawing is a tracing or “master copy.” These copies are rarely, if ever, sent to a shop or site. Instead, copies of the tracings are given to persons or offices where needed. Tracings that are properly handled and stored will last indefinitely. The term blueprint is used loosely to describe copies of original drawings or tracings. One of the first processes developed to duplicate tracings produced white lines on a blue background; hence the term blueprint. Today, however, other methods produce prints of different colors. The colors may be brown, black, gray, or maroon. The differences are in the types of paper and developing processes used. A patented paper identified as BW paper produces prints with black lines on a white background. The diazo, or ammonia process, produces prints with either black, blue, or maroon lines on a white background. Another type of duplicating process rarely used to reproduce working drawings is the photostatic process in which a large camera reduces or enlarges a tracing or drawing. The photostat has white lines on a dark background. Businesses use this process to incorporate reduced-size drawings into reports or records. The standards and procedures prescribed for military drawings and blueprints are stated in military standards (MIL-STD) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards. The Department of Defense Index of Specifications and Standards lists these standards; it is issued on 31 July of each year. The following list contains common MIL-STD and ANSI standards, listed by number and title, that concern engineering drawings and blueprints.