A parts book or parts catalogue is a book published by manufacturers which contains the part numbers and other relevant data for their products or parts thereof.
Parts books were often also issued as microfiche, though this has fallen out of favour. Now, many manufacturers offer this information digitally in an electronic parts catalogue (EPC). This can be locally installed software, or a centrally hosted web application. Usually, an EPC enables the user to virtually disassemble the product into its components to identify the required part(s).
In the automotive industry, EPC's are also able to access specific vehicle information, usually through an online look-up of the Vehicle Identification Number. This will identify specific models, allowing the user to correctly identify the required part and its relevant part number.
Famous quotes containing the words parts and/or book:
“The squirming facts exceed the squamous mind, If one may say so.”
—Wallace Stevens 1879–1955, U.S. poet. “Connoisseur of Chaos,” Parts of a World (1942)
“Remember thee?
Ay, thou poor ghost, whiles memory holds a seat
In this distracted globe. Remember thee?
Yea, from the table of my memory
I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past
That youth and observation copied there,
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)