This means the clear and concise representation of the design by mechanical drawings.

This is as much a part of the routine method of Machine Design as the other three points which have been discussed. The mere act of putting the results of mechanical thinking on paper is one of the greatest helps to force thinking machinery to systematic and definite action. A designer never thinks very long without drawing something, and the student must bring himself to feel that a drawing in its first sense is a means of helping his own thought, and must freely use it as such.

In its second and final sense, the drawing is an order and specification sheet from the designer to the workman. Design which stops short of exact, finished delineation in the form of working shop drawings is only half done. In fact the possibility of a piece being thus exactly drawn is often the crucial test of its feasibility as a part of a machine. It is easy to make general outlines, but it is not so easy to get down to finished detail. It is safe to say that there is no one thing productive of more trouble, delay and embarrassment, and waste of time and money in the shop, when there need be none from this cause, than a poor detail drawing. The efficiency of the process of design is not fully realized, and failures are often recorded where there should be success, merely because the indefiniteness permitted by the designer in the drawings naturally transmitted itself to the workman, and he in turn produced a part indefinite in form and operation.

The actual process of drawing in the development of a design may be outlined as follows :

Rough sketches merely representing ideas, not drawn to scale, are first made. These are of use only so far as the choice of mechanical ideas is concerned, and to carry preliminary dimensions.

Following these sketches, comes a layout to scale, of the favored sketch, a working out of the relative sizes and location of the parts. This drawing may be of a sketchy nature, carrying a principal dimension here,and there to fix and control the detailed design. In this drawing the design is developed and general detail worked out. The minute detail of the individual parts is, however, left to the subsequent working drawing.

This layout drawing may now be turned over to an expert draftsman or detail designer, who picks out each part, makes an exact drawing of it, studying every little detail of its shape, and finally adds complete dimensions and specifications so that the workman is positively informed as to every point of its construction.

General drawings and cross sections constitute the last step in the process of complete delineation. These show the parts assembled in the complete machine. They also serve a valuable purpose to the draftsman in checking up the dimensions of the detail drawings. Errors which have escaped previous notice are often discovered in this way. The layout, mentioned above, is sometimes finished up into a general drawing; but it is safer to make an entirely new drawing, as changes in detail are often necessary after the layout is made.

The four fundamental lines of thought and action noted above may be summarized thus - "analyze and theorize, modify and delineate." This is a maxim easy to remember, applicable to every problem in Machine Design, and always provides the answer to the question "What shall I do, how shall I proceed?" by pointing out the proper sequence in the course to be followed.