Circuit Diagram

回路図 / 1890s– / Style / Diagrammatic Expression

An engineering language that draws circuits with standardized symbols and orthogonal lines. Discarding physical placement to record only connection, it arrived at a topological way of drawing well before the transit map did.

Circuit Diagram — Circuit diagram of a radio receiver 1920 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Circuit diagram of a radio receiver 1920 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Circuit Diagram — Amateur radio circuit diagram — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Amateur radio circuit diagram — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Circuit Diagram — Circuit diagram of a telephone exchange (New International Encyclopedia) 1905 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Circuit diagram of a telephone exchange (New International Encyclopedia) 1905 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

Standardized component symbols
Orthogonal wiring
Junction dots
Abstraction from physical layout

Best used for

Recording connection intent in a form another engineer can inherit
Explaining how a device works as a system in a manual or course

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Dictionary entry

Type: One symbol standard throughout, values and part numbers alongside
Composition: Signal left to right, supply at the top, ground at the bottom
Material: Junctions always shown by a dot, crossings passing straight
Caution: Routing the drawing to match the physical board hides the flow of signal and throws away the abstraction that made the diagram useful.
Further study: the IEC 60617 symbols / learning to read schematics / the division of labor with PCB layout

Related entries

Blueprint (ブループリント)Shared effects: Technique / Trust.Compare Circuit Diagram and Blueprint
Flowchart (フローチャート)Same Diagrammatic Expression lineage.Compare Circuit Diagram and Flowchart

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