Which type of drawing is most useful for understanding how a mechanism is intended to work?

An assembly view is particularly valuable for understanding how a mechanism is intended to work because it presents all the components of the assembly in their proper arrangement and orientation relative to one another. This type of drawing illustrates how parts fit together and interact during operation, making it easier to visualize the overall function of the mechanism. It typically highlights the relationships and assembly sequence between parts, which is crucial for grasping how the entire system operates as a whole.

While detail views focus on specific parts providing greater visibility of intricate features, and exploded views show the individual components separated from each other for clarity, they do not inherently convey the overall interaction and functionality of the completed assembly in the same way that an assembly view does. Orthographic views present a two-dimensional representation of the parts from multiple angles, which is useful for manufacturing but not as effective for understanding the operational dynamics of a mechanism compared to an assembly view.