Pennsylvania Architect seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them

No size at all is stated. The architect's seal subchapter — 49 Pa. Code §§ 9.140 through 9.146 — never uses the words inch, diameter or size. The 1¾-inch figure, and the 1½-inch pocket reduction that goes with it, come from 49 Pa. Code § 37.58(c), the rule of the State Registration Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists, and that board does not license architects. This is not license to invent a layout either: § 9.141(a) requires the licensee to obtain a seal "of the identical design authorized by the Board", and § 9.143(a) provides that a licensee may not design his own seal or stamp except as provided in the chapter, so the dimensions come from the Board's design rather than from the rule text. (49 Pa. Code §§ 9.141(a), 9.143(a); cf. 49 Pa. Code § 37.58(c))

It says "Registered Architect". Section 9.141(a) requires a seal bearing the licensee's name and license number and the legend "Registered Architect" together with a reference to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The word survives from an older vocabulary that the rest of the chapter has left behind — the board is the State Architects Licensure Board, the governing act is the Architects Licensure Law, § 9.141(a) speaks of a licensee holding a license number, and § 9.141(b)(4) of a license that has lapsed — yet the seal still reads "Registered". Because § 9.143(a) forbids designing your own seal, substituting "Licensed Architect" is not an available choice. (49 Pa. Code § 9.141(a); § 9.143(a))

Yes, on conditions that are easy to fall out of. Section 9.143(b) allows a seal or stamp combining the names of a number of architects in a firm to be used in lieu of individual seals or stamps, if the names of the individual licensees, their license numbers and the legend "Architects" appear on the combined seal and the members of the firm are licensed to practice architecture in this Commonwealth. If one or more members of the firm are not licensed by the Board, the individual architect who is professionally responsible for the firm's work in this Commonwealth is required to use his individual seal or stamp on that work. Note the legend on the combined device is "Architects" — plural, and without "Registered" — where the individual seal reads "Registered Architect"; and § 9.143(d) keeps every architect named on the combined seal personally responsible. (49 Pa. Code § 9.143(b), (d); § 9.141(a))

Yes, and the requirement is broader than the engineers'. Section 9.141(b)(2) puts the seal, the signature and the date of issuance prominently on the first page of final or complete architectural documents, requires that first-page seal to be impressed, stamped or digital, and then adds that facsimile or digital seals shall appear on all subsequent pages of architectural documents. Section 9.140 defines architectural documents as drawings, specifications and other design documents, so the specification pages are inside the duty. The engineers' and surveyors' counterpart, § 37.59(2), extends the subsequent-page duty only to plans or plats. (49 Pa. Code § 9.141(b)(2); § 9.140; cf. 49 Pa. Code § 37.59(2))

It goes dead, and the replacement carries a new number. Section 9.146(a) requires an architect to notify the Board immediately upon discovering that the stamp or seal has been lost, stolen or compromised; the Board will declare the old device void and will authorize the issuance of a new registration number and the manufacture of a new stamp or seal, and it is unlawful for a person to use the old stamp or seal — so every copy of the superseded seal comes out of service, not just the one that went missing. A compromised digital signature carries the same immediate-notice duty under (b). Surrender differs by medium as well: a digital seal and signature are surrendered by providing a sworn, written affidavit confirming they have been cancelled, where a metal seal or stamp goes back to the Board. (49 Pa. Code § 9.146; § 9.145(a), (a.1))