Hello! It's Brynne from The Gathered Home here with your March edition of awesome FREE printable images! In January, I rounded up 20 free vintage maps and in February I shared over 25 vintage astronomy images.
Today's theme is “blueprints & diagrams” and I had a blast pulling together this collection of detailed and fascinating images! These images lend themselves well to black and white printing, making a large “engineering print” an extremely affordable way to display them on your walls – you can print an enormous 36″ x 48″ print for around $8, or smaller sizes for just a few dollars at your local copy center or office store.
20+ Free Vintage Printable Blueprints & Schematics
To download and print, click on the link to visit the original source for each image.
(1) Vintage Patent Designs via Primer
Visit the link for four more vintage patent printables!
(2) Sketch Airplane Printables via How to Nest for Less
(3) Victorian House Plans via Call Me Victorian
Visit the link for four more charming Victorian house plans!
(4) Toy Building Brick Patent via Google Patents
Look familiar? 🙂 I think this would be so fun blown up for a playroom!
(5) Remington Noiseless 8 Typewriter via Primer
(6) Illustrations from Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary
via Wikimedia Commons (I, II, III)
(7) 1738 Warship via Primer
This nautical image is quite large and very detailed – it would be beautiful in a large format!
(8) Vintage Mechanical Toys via The Graphics Fairy
(9) USS Rodney M. Davis via Wikimedia Commons
(10) Belt Drive Bike Patent via Patent Pending Blog
(11) Flying Machine Patent via The National Archives
I love this one so much!
(12) Typewriter Construction Patent via Google Patents
(13) The Reconstruction of the French “La Couronne” via Wikimedia Commons
Another highly detailed image that would be stunning in a large print.
(14) Thomas Edison's Light Bulb via The National Archives
(15) Vintage Model Aircraft Blueprint via OuterZone
(16) Eames Chair Patents via Google Patent (I, II)
(17) The Duryea Road Vehicle via The National Archives
(18) Fender Tremolo Patent Diagram via Wikimedia Commons
(19) Drawing for a Game Board via The National Archives
The precursor to Monopoly? Fascinating!
(20) Architectural Diagrams via The Graphics Fairy (I, II)
Need some inspiration for incorporating these vintage diagrams into your decor? I've got you covered!
(1) Blueprint art can be streamlined and elegant in a modern traditional room (via Andrea Brooks Interiors)
(2) It also goes well with modern industrial/rustic spaces (via Apartment Therapy)
(3) Nautical diagrams can add the perfect “beachy” touch to a room (via Coastal Living)
(4) Display your favorite patent designs en masse for a bold statement (via The New York Times)
Tip: Visit the Google Patents search to search tons of public domain patent images by keyword.
What do you think? Are any of these vintage images something you would consider adding to your home? If you do a project with any of these, I'd love to see it!
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Don't miss our other printable art collections, too!
I had no idea you could download high res images of patents from google. How smart! Thanks for sharing.
It’s such a neat resource! I was so excited to discover it too!
How would you enlarge the Lego print? Would love to do poster size prints?
Hi Cheryl – I found this post with instructions that are very helpful: http://thepaintedhive.net/2014/05/free-art-printables-finding-setting-up-printing-large-scale-images/. She shares methods for using Photoshop (the less expensive Photoshop Elements should also work for this) and a free photo editing software called GIMP.
Dear Brynne,
I found you by trawling through page after page of Pinterest web pages and finally I found you. My Uncle was named after the USS Rodney in 1940, at the time people believed that it had been blown up and all lost at sea, you have no idea what it means to me to have found these blue prints. My Uncle has meant so much to me over the years, he’s my best friend, a true Father figure, my go to man, he has always been there for me and to be able to give him a gift of the framed blue prints of the USS Rodney will mean so much to him, I can’t thank you enough for sharing all these beautiful prints.
Kindest regards
Oh wow, Rachel! I’m so happy you found this post – what an incredible story! I can only imagine how special that gift will be. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this comment with me!
All the best,
~ Brynne
I am loving these patent prints! Thanks for sharing. I have a few picked out for our office!