Our Story
Imagine it. Draw it. Build it.
The tools have changed dramatically over the past fifty years. The fundamental process has not.
Design started at the workbench.
Brad’s experience began in his grandfather’s workshop, learning to work with wood, metal, plastic, and basic hand tools while also learning the importance of planning a project before cutting the first piece of material.
His grandfather passed along a drafting set that had itself come through the family, reinforcing a practice that would shape Brad’s career: think through the problem, draw it clearly, and understand how it will actually be built.
James Associates is established.
James Associates grew from the practical need to connect ideas with the materials, tools, suppliers, manufacturers, and technical specialists capable of turning those ideas into working objects.
That experience developed across wood, metals, plastics, electronics, manufacturing processes, and other areas of commerce and industry.
Patent illustration becomes a major part of the work.
Brad began preparing utility and design patent illustrations in 1992. Since then, James Associates has produced drawings for more than 3,000 patents.
That work requires more than drafting ability. Patent drawings must communicate structure, relationships, function, and appearance with exceptional clarity.
James Associates does not provide legal advice or act as a patent attorney. Its role is technical: to help inventors and attorneys clearly illustrate the invention being presented.
The tools changed. The process didn’t.
The work progressed from pencil and paper to pen and ink, reproduction methods, CAD, 3D modeling, and modern engineering software.
But every tool serves the same basic purpose: translating an idea into information another person can understand and use, whether that person is an inventor, attorney, machinist, fabricator, printer operator, engineer, or manufacturer.
Experience across both design and manufacture.
James Associates combines decades of drafting and design experience with practical knowledge of materials, fabrication, prototyping, machining, and modern digital production.
That combination matters because a design should not exist only on a computer screen. It should account for how the object will be made, assembled, used, repaired, and reproduced.
Ready to discuss your next project?
Let’s turn your idea into a precise, practical solution.