{ "model": { "rank": 2035, "code": "thing-q12760", "model_id": "vr.tr.steam-engine", "name": "steam engine", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise a steam engine, assess its operating condition and determine which actions its configuration, evidence and operating limits permit.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Physical world and living systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "PHY", "domain": "PHY.OBJ", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q12760/", "tier": 2, "score": 118, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "steamdriven pumping station", "stationary steam engine", "Willans engine", "live steam", "Steam motor", "LOWA DS 120", "steam plough", "Corliss steam engine", "marine steam engine", "steam locomotive engine", "compound steam engine", "Newcomen atmospheric engine", "beam engine", "Cornish engine", "traction engine", "portable engine", "Booster engine", "model steam engine", "vertical compound steam engine", "triple-expansion steam engine", "vertical quad-expansion steam engine" ], "aliasCount": 21, "merged": 21, "knownIn": 118, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q12760", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12760", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-07T09:26:44Z", "providers": [ "Codex", "Grok" ], "missingProviders": [], "pass": 2, "cost": { "grok": { "usd": 0.0384705, "turns": 2, "seconds": 153.3, "error": null }, "codex": { "seconds": 93.9, "error": "Reading additional input from stdin...\nOpenAI Codex v0.153.3\n--------\nworkdir: R:\\02_PROJECTS\\02_Meta_Models_Platforms\\Ver.cy\\current\\thing-registry-backlog\nmodel: gpt-6-astra\nprovider: openai\napproval: never\nsandbox: read-only\nreasoning effort: none\nreasoning summaries: none\nsession id: 01a07b2e-acb3-7813-bf91-f5b6908cb2fd\n--------\nuser\nYou are drafting a Vercy meta-model for one registered thing. Answer as JSON only, no prose around it.\n\nThing: steam engine\nRegistry id: vr.tr.steam-engine\nPlane / domain: PHY / PHY.OBJ\nRegistry definition: (none recorded)\nNames folded into this entry: (none)\n" } } }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q12760", "registryId": "vr.tr.steam-engine", "name": "steam engine", "version": "0.1.0-research.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "PHY.OBJ" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q12760/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.steam-engine", "name": "steam engine", "purpose": "Enable an AI agent to recognise a steam engine, assess its operating condition and determine which actions its configuration, evidence and operating limits permit.", "definition": "A steam engine is an external-combustion Rankine-cycle heat engine that converts thermal energy in steam - generated by boiling water in a boiler separate from the working mechanism - into mechanical work, classically by expanding that steam against a reciprocating piston (usually turned into rotation by a connecting rod and crank) and, in broader engineering usage, also by expanding it through a steam turbine.", "scope_statement": "This model owns a registered steam engine as a prime mover that converts supplied steam energy into mechanical work, including its conversion mechanism, steam path, moving assembly, controls, condition and operating constraints; associated steam-generation, heat-rejection and driven systems are represented through explicit interfaces.", "in_scope": [ "Engine identity, architecture and installed assembly boundary", "Steam admission, expansion and exhaust arrangements", "Mechanical work conversion, output and load interfaces", "Governing, lubrication, drainage and engine-local protection", "Observed condition, operating limits and readiness for permitted actions" ], "out_of_scope": [ "Boiler combustion, steam generation and boiler pressure-vessel integrity", "Condenser and cooling-system design beyond engine exhaust requirements", "Detailed design and condition of driven generators, pumps, vehicles or machinery", "Plant-wide fuel, feedwater and water-treatment systems", "Detailed component models for bearings, valves, cylinders or turbine blades" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Identify a working-fluid path in which steam acts on a moving mechanism to produce mechanical work; heating equipment that merely consumes steam does not meet this test.", "Locate the mechanical output interface and distinguish it from the steam generator, which supplies the working fluid.", "Record whether work conversion uses piston displacement, another displacement mechanism or flow through a bladed rotor; appearance or the label 'engine' alone is insufficient.", "Distinguish a steam-driven mechanism from a compressed-air motor or combustion engine using design documentation and intended working fluid, including when demonstration operation uses a substitute fluid." ], "characteristics": [ { "name": "Conversion architecture", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "reciprocating piston | rotary displacement | turbine | other documented architecture | unresolved", "why_it_matters": "Determines which cycle, motion, failure and control observations apply." }, { "name": "Assembly boundary", "kind": "relation", "unit_or_values": "identified engine components and links to steam source, exhaust destination and driven equipment", "why_it_matters": "Prevents engine readiness from being confused with readiness of the surrounding installation." }, { "name": "Steam inlet condition", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "pressure in kPa with absolute or gauge basis; temperature in °C; steam quality where applicable", "why_it_matters": "Establishes the supplied working-fluid condition and its compatibility with documented limits." }, { "name": "Exhaust condition", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "pressure in kPa absolute and temperature in °C at an identified exhaust location", "why_it_matters": "Supports assessment of expansion conditions and exhaust-system compatibility." }, { "name": "Expansion arrangement", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "single expansion | compound or multiple expansion | turbine staging | other documented arrangement | unresolved", "why_it_matters": "Identifies how steam passes through successive work-producing elements." }, { "name": "Admission and governing arrangement", "kind": "category", "unit_or_values": "documented valve, cutoff, throttle, nozzle or governor arrangement, as applicable", "why_it_matters": "Explains how steam input, speed and output can be controlled." }, { "name": "Output speed", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "rpm at an identified shaft, with load and observation time", "why_it_matters": "Allows observed operation to be compared with the applicable speed envelope." }, { "name": "Mechanical output", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "shaft power in kW, torque in N·m or linear force in N, with measurement location and operating conditions", "why_it_matters": "Shows whether the engine can meet the connected load without assuming all engines have rotary output." }, { "name": "Steam consumption", "kind": "measurement", "unit_or_values": "kg/h; optionally kg/kWh when matching output measurements exist", "why_it_matters": "Supports performance assessment at a stated steam condition and load." }, { "name": "Operating readiness", "kind": "state", "unit_or_values": "unassessed | isolated | under maintenance | ready under stated conditions | running | restricted | out of service", "why_it_matters": "Separates observed physical condition from evidence that a particular action is permitted." } ], "affordances": [ "Identify the engine architecture and trace its steam and mechanical interfaces.", "Compare measured inlet, exhaust, speed and output conditions with documented operating limits.", "Assess suitability for a proposed steam supply and mechanical load.", "Determine whether inspection, maintenance or a controlled operating test is supported by current evidence.", "Record condition changes and identify observations needed to investigate degraded performance.", "Establish prerequisites for startup, load changes, shutdown or isolation using the engine's applicable procedures." ] }, "sources": [ { "id": "wiki-steam-engine", "title": "Steam engine", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_engine", "what_it_supports": "Definition as a steam heat engine; restriction of the term in ordinary use to reciprocating engines; Rankine cycle and external combustion; compound expansion; boilers as part of a steam plant", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "wiki-stationary", "title": "Stationary steam engine", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stationary_steam_engine", "what_it_supports": "Distinction of stationary mill and pumping engines from locomotives, traction engines, marine engines and power-station turbines; historical sequence Newcomen-Watt-Woolf-Cornish-Corliss", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "britannica-steam-engine", "title": "Steam engine", "url": "https://www.britannica.com/technology/steam-engine", "what_it_supports": "Specialist description of piston versus turbine machines, simple versus compound cylinders, superheating, and the Savery-Newcomen-Watt sequence", "url_status": "blocked" }, { "id": "wiki-steam-turbine", "title": "Steam turbine", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_turbine", "what_it_supports": "Turbine as a rotary steam engine; impulse versus reaction staging; dominance in marine propulsion and electric generation", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "wiki-boiler-explosion", "title": "Boiler explosion", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiler_explosion", "what_it_supports": "Catastrophic pressure-part failure, low-water and over-pressure causes, and the stored energy of hot water in a locomotive boiler", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "ecfr-46cfr53", "title": "46 CFR Part 53 - Heating Boilers", "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-46/part-53", "what_it_supports": "U.S. marine incorporation of ASME BPVC Sections I and IV, and the 15 psig steam heating-boiler limit", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "wiki-safety-valve", "title": "Safety valve", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_valve", "what_it_supports": "ASME BPVC Sections I and VIII, ISO 4126, and the EU Pressure Equipment Directive as governing overpressure protection", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "babcock-steam-42", "title": "Steam: its generation and use (42nd edition), sample chapter", "url": "https://www.babcock.com/assets/PDF-Downloads/Steam-42-Sample.pdf", "what_it_supports": "Modern steam-generator duty ranges from small process boilers to ultra-supercritical utility plant", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "wiki-steam-locomotive", "title": "Steam locomotive", "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotive", "what_it_supports": "Locomotive as a self-propelled steam plant; surviving heritage operation", "url_status": "live" }, { "id": "steamlocos-whyte", "title": "Wheel Arrangements Explained", "url": "https://www.steamlocomotives.org/how-railways-work/wheel-arrangements-explained", "what_it_supports": "Whyte notation and the American type-names (Pacific, Mikado, Consolidation) used for locomotive engines", "url_status": "live" } ], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "engine-identity-and-boundary", "name": "Engine identity and boundary", "description": "Establishes what converts steam energy into work and which equipment belongs to the registered engine.", "rationale": "Steam installations often combine boilers, engines and driven machinery whose identities and readiness must remain distinguishable.", "layers": [ { "id": "conversion-mechanism", "name": "Conversion mechanism", "description": "Identifies the physical mechanism responsible for mechanical work.", "findings": [ { "id": "steam-to-work-architecture", "name": "Steam-to-work architecture", "description": "Record the evidenced conversion architecture and whether the item is functional equipment, a replica or a non-operating representation.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which moving element receives work from steam, and how does that motion reach the output?", "kind": "definition", "id": "steam-to-work-architecture-q01" }, { "text": "Which drawings, markings or inspections establish the architecture and intended working fluid?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "steam-to-work-architecture-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "installation-interfaces", "name": "Installation interfaces", "description": "Separates the engine assembly from steam supply, exhaust equipment and load.", "findings": [ { "id": "owned-assembly-and-connections", "name": "Owned assembly and connections", "description": "Record the engine boundary, including integrated auxiliaries and interfaces to separately modelled equipment.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which admission valves, drains, lubricators, governors and transmission elements belong to this engine assembly?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "owned-assembly-and-connections-q01" }, { "text": "Where are the steam inlet, exhaust outlet and mechanical output boundaries, and what equipment connects to each?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "owned-assembly-and-connections-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "steam-path-and-expansion", "name": "Steam path and expansion", "description": "Describes how steam is admitted, performs work and leaves the engine.", "rationale": "Architecture-specific admission and expansion arrangements determine which observations explain engine behaviour.", "layers": [ { "id": "admission-and-distribution", "name": "Admission and distribution", "description": "Captures the mechanisms that direct and regulate incoming steam.", "findings": [ { "id": "admission-control", "name": "Admission control", "description": "Record applicable valve timing, cutoff, throttling or nozzle admission arrangements without assuming a piston cycle.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which mechanism determines when, where and how much steam enters the work-producing elements?", "kind": "definition", "id": "admission-control-q01" }, { "text": "Which admission settings are adjustable, and what documented constraints govern adjustment?", "kind": "action", "id": "admission-control-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "expansion-and-exhaust", "name": "Expansion and exhaust", "description": "Captures successive work-producing elements and the exhaust destination.", "findings": [ { "id": "expansion-route", "name": "Expansion route", "description": "Record the steam route through cylinders, chambers or stages and its connection to the exhaust system.", "questions": [ { "text": "Does steam perform work in one element or pass through successive expansion elements, and how are they connected?", "kind": "definition", "id": "expansion-route-q01" }, { "text": "Does exhaust discharge to atmosphere, a condenser or another steam system, and what interface requirements apply?", "kind": "boundary", "id": "expansion-route-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "steam-conditions-and-performance", "name": "Steam conditions and performance", "description": "Relates supplied steam and exhaust conditions to measured mechanical output.", "rationale": "Output and steam consumption cannot be judged meaningfully without the conditions under which they were measured.", "layers": [ { "id": "working-fluid-envelope", "name": "Working-fluid envelope", "description": "Records actual and permitted steam conditions at engine interfaces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inlet-and-exhaust-evidence", "name": "Inlet and exhaust evidence", "description": "Keep measurements, design ratings and operating restrictions distinct, with locations and pressure reference bases.", "questions": [ { "text": "What inlet pressure, inlet temperature and exhaust pressure were measured together, at which locations and operating state?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "inlet-and-exhaust-evidence-q01" }, { "text": "What evidence establishes the allowable steam conditions and any restrictions concerning wet steam or liquid carryover?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "inlet-and-exhaust-evidence-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "work-and-consumption", "name": "Work and consumption", "description": "Captures comparable output and steam-use observations.", "findings": [ { "id": "performance-at-stated-conditions", "name": "Performance at stated conditions", "description": "Record measured output and consumption with sufficient context to distinguish degradation from changed operating conditions.", "questions": [ { "text": "What mechanical output and steam mass flow were measured over the same interval, at what speed and load?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "performance-at-stated-conditions-q01" }, { "text": "Which documented test or previous observation provides a comparable performance baseline?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "performance-at-stated-conditions-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "motion-load-and-control", "name": "Motion, load and control", "description": "Describes how work reaches the load and how motion is regulated.", "rationale": "Steam admission alone does not establish usable output or controlled operation under changing load.", "layers": [ { "id": "motion-transmission", "name": "Motion transmission", "description": "Identifies the moving assembly and its mechanical relationship to the load.", "findings": [ { "id": "output-kinematics-and-load", "name": "Output kinematics and load", "description": "Record direct linear output or the shaft, crank, gearing and coupling arrangement that delivers rotary output.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do the piston, rotor or other moving elements transmit work to the connected load?", "kind": "definition", "id": "output-kinematics-and-load-q01" }, { "text": "What speed, torque, force and direction requirements does the connected load impose?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "output-kinematics-and-load-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "governing-and-motion-limits", "name": "Governing and motion limits", "description": "Captures speed regulation, direction control and protective responses.", "findings": [ { "id": "control-authority-and-response", "name": "Control authority and response", "description": "Record available controls, their verified functions and the evidence supporting protective responses.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which controls regulate speed or output, and is reversal supported by this engine and installation?", "kind": "action", "id": "control-authority-and-response-q01" }, { "text": "What evidence establishes the response to load loss, governor malfunction or excessive speed?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "control-authority-and-response-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "condition-and-operating-readiness", "name": "Condition and operating readiness", "description": "Connects steam-engine condition evidence to maintenance and operating decisions.", "rationale": "A complete-looking engine may still lack the drainage, lubrication, mechanical condition or verified protections needed for operation.", "layers": [ { "id": "steam-and-motion-condition", "name": "Steam and motion condition", "description": "Records condition of steam-containing parts, working clearances and moving supports.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-evidence", "name": "Condition evidence", "description": "Record architecture-relevant leakage, corrosion, wear, lubrication, drainage and motion observations, distinguishing symptoms from diagnosed causes.", "questions": [ { "text": "What inspections or measurements establish the condition of steam passages, seals, bearings and applicable working clearances?", "kind": "measurement", "id": "condition-evidence-q01" }, { "text": "What evidence shows that required lubrication and condensate-removal provisions are present and functional?", "kind": "provenance", "id": "condition-evidence-q02" } ] } ] }, { "id": "permitted-operating-transitions", "name": "Permitted operating transitions", "description": "Relates current condition and installation status to specific proposed actions.", "findings": [ { "id": "action-prerequisites", "name": "Action prerequisites", "description": "Record which procedures, inspections and interface conditions support startup, operation, shutdown or maintenance.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which documented prerequisites remain unmet for the proposed startup, load change or operating test?", "kind": "action", "id": "action-prerequisites-q01" }, { "text": "What verified isolation and residual-energy conditions are required before opening steam-containing parts or accessing moving mechanisms?", "kind": "action", "id": "action-prerequisites-q02" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "evidence-and-external-alignment", "name": "Evidence and external alignment", "description": "What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.", "rationale": "A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.", "layers": [ { "id": "reported-evidence", "name": "Reported evidence", "description": "Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.", "findings": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds", "name": "Kinds and varieties", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Newcomen atmospheric engine", "Watt separate-condenser beam engine", "high-pressure reciprocating engine (simple expansion)", "compound and multiple-expansion engine", "stationary mill or pumping engine (including Corliss)", "railway steam locomotive", "marine reciprocating steam engine", "steam turbine" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-kinds-q01", "text": "Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of steam engine this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-identifiers", "name": "Identifiers and schemes", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "scheme": "Wikidata", "value_or_pattern": "Q178336", "note": "Item for the steam engine as a class of heat engine" }, { "scheme": "Library of Congress Subject Headings", "value_or_pattern": "Steam-engines", "note": "Standard bibliographic heading for the machine class" }, { "scheme": "Whyte notation", "value_or_pattern": "{leading}-{driving}-{trailing} with optional T for tank (e.g. 4-6-2, 0-6-0T)", "note": "Anglo-American wheel-arrangement code for steam locomotives, not for stationary or marine engines" }, { "scheme": "UIC / continental axle notation", "value_or_pattern": "leading digits, driving letters, trailing digits (e.g. 2C1; French 231; Swiss 3/6)", "note": "European locomotive classification that names the same physical engine differently from Whyte" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-identifiers-q01", "text": "Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of steam engine this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation", "name": "Standards and regulation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section I - Rules for Construction of Power Boilers (American Society of Mechanical Engineers)", "ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section IV - Rules for Construction of Heating Boilers (ASME)", "ASME PTC 4 - Fired Steam Generators performance test code (ASME)", "ISO 4126 - Safety devices for protection against excessive pressure (International Organization for Standardization)", "Pressure Equipment Directive 2014/68/EU, formerly 97/23/EC (European Union)", "EN 12952 and EN 12953 - water-tube and shell boilers, including acceptance-test parts EN 12952-15 and EN 12953-11 (CEN)", "46 CFR Parts 52-53 - marine power and heating boilers, incorporating ASME BPVC (U.S. Coast Guard / Code of Federal Regulations)" ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-standards-and-regulation-q01", "text": "Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of steam engine this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-real-world-use", "name": "Real-world use", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Heritage railways, museum pumping stations and steam rallies still operate reciprocating engines as working exhibits.", "Utility and industrial power stations, and nuclear plants, produce electricity with steam turbines rather than piston engines.", "Marine propulsion used reciprocating engines into the mid-20th century; large ships and naval nuclear plants now use steam turbines.", "Stationary engines historically drove mills, factories, mine pumps and municipal waterworks; a few industrial sites (for example some sugar mills) retained steam plant after the diesel era.", "Road-going traction and portable engines provided threshing, ploughing and contractor power before internal-combustion tractors.", "Process plants still raise steam in boilers for heating and chemical work even when the prime mover is no longer a steam engine." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-real-world-use-q01", "text": "Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of steam engine this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-measurements", "name": "Typical measurements", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "quantity": "boiler working pressure (reciprocating plant)", "typical_range": "0.03-0.10 (Watt-era low pressure) to about 1.0-2.4 (typical locomotives; ~150-350 psi)", "unit": "MPa" }, { "quantity": "steam pressure and temperature (modern Rankine turbine plant)", "typical_range": "about 16 MPa / 540 °C common; ultra-supercritical above ~31 MPa and ~590-600 °C", "unit": "MPa and °C" }, { "quantity": "shaft or indicated power", "typical_range": "tens of kW (small mill and portable engines) through hundreds of kW to a few MW (large locomotives and marine reciprocating sets); utility turbines typically 200-1300 MW", "unit": "kW or MW" }, { "quantity": "rotational speed", "typical_range": "tens to a few hundred r/min for beam and mill engines; 1800 or 3600 r/min for 60 Hz turbine-generators (1500/3000 r/min at 50 Hz)", "unit": "r/min" }, { "quantity": "thermal efficiency (fuel heat to shaft or busbar)", "typical_range": "about 1 percent (Newcomen) through roughly 15-20 percent (late compound reciprocating plants) to about 34-45 percent (modern Rankine stations)", "unit": "percent" } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-measurements-q01", "text": "Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of steam engine this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards", "name": "Failure modes and hazards", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Boiler explosion from over-pressure, a stuck safety valve, corrosion or original under-strength of the shell.", "Low-water overheating and crown-sheet or firebox collapse, especially on locomotives.", "Sudden depressurisation flashing remaining hot water to steam and throwing scalding spray and fragments.", "Steam-pipe or cylinder-cover bursts causing scalding and impact injury.", "Water carry-over (priming) damaging reciprocating cylinders or eroding turbine blading.", "Mechanical breakage of connecting rods, cranks, valve gear or coupling rods, with risk of a broken rod piercing the cab or boiler.", "Turbine blade failure from centrifugal load, vibration or water induction.", "Fires and fuel-handling hazards at the grate or oil burner, distinct from the pressure-system failures." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-failure-modes-and-hazards-q01", "text": "Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of steam engine this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-regional-variation", "name": "Regional variation", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ "Locomotive wheel arrangements are written Whyte-style in Britain and North America (4-6-2), as French axle counts (231), German letters (2C1), or Swiss drive/total axles (3/6); American type-names such as Pacific, Mikado and Consolidation travelled unevenly.", "English often reserves \"steam engine\" for reciprocating machines and names the rotary machine a steam turbine; German likewise contrasts Dampfmaschine with Dampfturbine and Dampflokomotive.", "British practice treats the traction engine as a distinct road-going class; North American usage more often says steam tractor.", "The Cornish engine is a regional high-pressure pumping type associated with Cornish mines and later waterworks.", "Boiler law is national: ASME BPVC and state inspectorates in the United States, PED/EN practice in the EU, and older inspection-and-insurance regimes in Britain (historically including specialised steam-users' associations)." ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-regional-variation-q01", "text": "Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of steam engine this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] }, { "id": "evidence-neighbours", "name": "Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart", "description": "Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.", "evidence": [ { "name": "steam turbine", "difference": "A turbine extracts work from a continuous steam jet on rotating blades; a classical steam engine uses intermittent admission to a piston. Many catalogues treat the turbine as a kind of steam engine; mechanical practice usually names them separately." }, { "name": "steam boiler / steam generator", "difference": "The boiler raises steam; the engine or turbine consumes it. A locomotive packages both; a mill engine is piped to a separate boiler." }, { "name": "steam locomotive", "difference": "The locomotive is a self-propelled vehicle whose prime mover is a steam engine plus boiler, tender and running gear - not the engine class itself." }, { "name": "Savery steam pump", "difference": "Savery's device acted with steam pressure and vacuum directly on water and had no piston delivering continuous mechanical work to a shaft." }, { "name": "Stirling or hot-air engine", "difference": "Also external-combustion, but the working fluid is a gas that does not change phase; there is no boiler or steam." }, { "name": "internal-combustion engine", "difference": "Combustion occurs inside the working fluid; a steam engine keeps fire and working steam apart (external combustion)." } ], "questions": [ { "id": "evidence-neighbours-q01", "text": "Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of steam engine this model covers, and on what evidence?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Does registry usage include steam turbines and rotary displacement engines under this entry, or should its scope be restricted to reciprocating steam engines?", "Does an existing Vercy world model already own this concept or an architecture that this draft would duplicate?", "How should integral boilers and condensers be bounded for packaged engines, locomotives and small demonstration units?", "Which authoritative documentation establishes architecture-specific operating limits, inspection requirements and permissible actions?", "What minimum evidence distinguishes an operable engine from a conserved, incomplete or demonstration-only example?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 11, "findings": 18, "questions": 28 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "device, machine or tool", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a steam engine, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Enable an AI agent to recognise a steam engine, assess its operating condition and determine which actions its configuration, evidence and operating limits permit.", "characteristics": { "substance": "material", "origin": "manufactured", "agency": "inert", "mobility": "varies" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: steamdriven pumping station, stationary steam engine, Willans engine, live steam, Steam motor, LOWA DS 120, steam plough, Corliss steam engine, marine steam engine, steam locomotive engine, compound steam engine, Newcomen atmospheric engine.", "21 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 118 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a steam engine, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "matter you can touch", "physicalCharacter": [ "Mobility varies between examples.", "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Recognised by form, by the arrangement of its controls, and by markings - a plate, a model number, a certification mark. Form alone rarely separates two models that do very different things." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "steamdriven pumping station", "stationary steam engine", "Willans engine", "live steam", "Steam motor", "LOWA DS 120", "steam plough", "Corliss steam engine", "marine steam engine", "steam locomotive engine", "compound steam engine", "Newcomen atmospheric engine" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 118 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 21 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one steam engine from another, and a steam engine from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a steam engine sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a steam engine from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "form-and-composition", "name": "Form, composition and condition", "description": "What a steam engine is made of, what shape and size it takes, and what state it is in.", "rationale": "A physical thing can be measured, and a model that cannot record its measurements cannot support any decision that depends on them.", "layers": [ { "id": "form-and-dimensions", "name": "Form and dimensions", "description": "Shape, size, mass and the ranges these take across examples.", "findings": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions", "name": "Measurable dimensions and their units", "description": "The quantities worth recording and the units they are recorded in.", "questions": [ { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the dimensions of a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the dimensions of a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "measurable-dimensions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the dimensions of a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "material-and-composition", "name": "Material and composition", "description": "Materials, parts and how they are put together.", "findings": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials", "name": "Parts and materials", "description": "What a steam engine is built from and which parts are replaceable.", "questions": [ { "id": "parts-and-materials-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the composition of a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the composition of a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "parts-and-materials-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the composition of a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "condition-and-integrity", "name": "Condition and integrity", "description": "Wear, damage, health and the difference between working and broken.", "findings": [ { "id": "condition-assessment", "name": "Condition, damage and health", "description": "How the condition of a steam engine is judged and by whom.", "questions": [ { "id": "condition-assessment-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the condition of a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the condition of a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "condition-assessment-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the condition of a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "place-and-movement", "name": "Place and movement", "description": "Where a steam engine is, how it got there and where it may go (varies).", "rationale": "A thing that can move needs its position recorded with a time, or every later claim about it is about a place it has left.", "layers": [ { "id": "location-and-placement", "name": "Location and placement", "description": "Position, containment and the reference frame the position is given in.", "findings": [ { "id": "position-and-frame", "name": "Position, container and reference frame", "description": "Where a steam engine is, and what that position is measured against.", "questions": [ { "id": "position-and-frame-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the location of a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the location of a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "position-and-frame-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the location of a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "movement-and-transfer", "name": "Movement and transfer", "description": "How a steam engine is carried, installed or relocated.", "findings": [ { "id": "movement-events", "name": "Movement events and constraints", "description": "What counts as a movement, what records it and what limits it.", "questions": [ { "id": "movement-events-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the movement of a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the movement of a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "movement-events-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the movement of a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a steam engine passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a steam engine between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a steam engine, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a steam engine is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "function-and-principle", "name": "Function and operating principle", "description": "What steam engine is for and how it achieves it.", "rationale": "Two devices with the same name can work on different principles, and the principle is what predicts failure and constrains use.", "layers": [ { "id": "intended-function", "name": "Intended function", "description": "The job it does, and the jobs it is used for anyway.", "findings": [ { "id": "function-record", "name": "Function, principle and variants", "description": "What it does, how, and which variants do it differently.", "questions": [ { "id": "function-record-q01", "text": "What function does steam engine perform, on what operating principle, and which variants differ in that principle?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "function-record-q02", "text": "What use falls outside the intended function but happens in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "capacity-and-rating", "name": "Capacity and rating", "description": "The numbers that say what it can do and where it stops.", "findings": [ { "id": "ratings", "name": "Ratings and their conditions", "description": "Rated capacity, power, throughput and the conditions each assumes.", "questions": [ { "id": "ratings-q01", "text": "What ratings characterise steam engine, in what units, and under what stated conditions?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "ratings-q02", "text": "What happens beyond the rating - degradation, refusal, damage - and how is that detected?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "operation-and-state", "name": "Operation, controls and state", "description": "How steam engine is operated and what state it is in right now.", "rationale": "An agent acting on a device needs its current state and the controls that change it, not just its specification.", "layers": [ { "id": "controls-and-modes", "name": "Controls and modes", "description": "What can be set, what that changes, and what is interlocked.", "findings": [ { "id": "control-surface", "name": "Control surface and interlocks", "description": "The settings available and the conditions that block them.", "questions": [ { "id": "control-surface-q01", "text": "What controls and modes does steam engine have, and what does each change?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "control-surface-q02", "text": "Which actions are interlocked or forbidden in which state, and what must be true before acting?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "condition-and-maintenance", "name": "Condition and maintenance", "description": "Wear, service intervals, consumables and the line between working and broken.", "findings": [ { "id": "service-record", "name": "Condition, service and consumables", "description": "What is consumed, what is serviced, and how condition is judged.", "questions": [ { "id": "service-record-q01", "text": "What consumables and service does steam engine need, at what interval, and on whose authority?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "service-record-q02", "text": "What evidence separates a unit that is working from one that is out of service?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "kind-model-unit", "name": "Kind, model and unit", "description": "Whether a claim about steam engine is about the kind, a product line, or one physical unit.", "rationale": "This is the boundary most often got wrong for made things, and getting it wrong mixes a catalogue entry with the machine in the yard.", "layers": [ { "id": "level-of-reference", "name": "Level of reference", "description": "The three levels and what belongs at each.", "findings": [ { "id": "level-rules", "name": "What belongs to kind, model and unit", "description": "Which properties are shared by all of them and which are not.", "questions": [ { "id": "level-rules-q01", "text": "Which facts about steam engine hold for every one of them, which for a model, and which only for one unit?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "level-rules-q02", "text": "What identifies an individual unit, and what should an agent do when it has only the kind?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "standards-and-conformity", "name": "Standards and conformity", "description": "The standards a working example must meet and who attests it.", "findings": [ { "id": "conformity", "name": "Standards, marks and attestation", "description": "Which standard applies, who certifies, and what the mark means.", "questions": [ { "id": "conformity-q01", "text": "Which standards govern steam engine, issued by whom, and what does conformity actually assert?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "conformity-q02", "text": "What may an agent conclude from a certification mark, and what may it not?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a steam engine came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a steam engine and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a steam engine is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a steam engine, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a steam engine, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a steam engine is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 8, "layers": 17, "findings": 19, "questions": 51 } } } }