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:
“Three parts of him
Is ours already, and the man entire
Upon the next encounter yields him ours.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The last publicized center of American writing was Manhattan. Its writers became known as the New York Intellectuals. With important connections to publishing, and universities, with access to the major book reviews, they were able to pose as the vanguard of American culture when they were so obsessed with the two Joes—McCarthy and Stalin—that they were to produce only two artists, Saul Bellow and Philip Roth, who left town.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)