guillotine
Enable an AI agent to recognise a guillotine, assess its configuration and condition, and determine whether documentation, conservation, access restriction or authorised specialist intervention is appropriate.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
5 bundles · 9 layers · 16 findings · 24 questions
Guillotine identity Establish what the registered object is and which sense of guillotine applies.
Mechanism and use
Separate mechanical recognition from attribution of intended use.
Configuration-based identification
Record the evidence supporting identification as a guillotine and its provisional subtype.
- What observable blade-and-guide arrangement supports identification as a guillotine? definition
- What fittings or records distinguish an execution apparatus from a material-cutting machine? boundary
Object boundary
Identify whether the record concerns an assembled apparatus, a component group or a representation.
Assembly or representation
Make the physical extent and representational status of the recorded thing explicit.
- Does this record concern a complete apparatus, a dismantled assembly, an isolated component or a replica? boundary
- Which detached blade, frame or support components have evidence linking them to this apparatus? provenance
Blade, frame and fittings Record the physical arrangement that gives this guillotine its identity and mechanical constraints.
Guided blade assembly
Describe the blade, carrier and guides as observed components.
Blade and guide configuration
Record blade attachment, guide arrangement and visible departures from the documented configuration.
- Which blade, carrier and guide components are present, missing or substituted? definition
- What visible damage, displacement or obstruction affects the relationship between the carrier and its guides? measurement
Support and use fittings
Describe structural support and fittings that establish how the apparatus was configured.
Frame and restraint arrangement
Record the frame and any neck restraint, body support or alternative work-support fittings without assuming all variants share them.
- Which support and restraint fittings are present, and what evidence identifies their intended role? definition
- Which fittings belong to the documented historical configuration, and which were added for restoration or display? provenance
Mechanical state and access Establish the current physical hazards and the evidence needed before handling or intervention.
Blade retention and energy
Record the blade assembly's current position and the basis for judging unintended movement.
Retention state
Distinguish directly observed restraint from an unverified assumption that the mechanism is inactive.
- Where is the blade assembly, and what evidence establishes whether its current retention has been assessed? measurement
- Does uncertainty about raised mass, connected drive components or retention require access restriction pending specialist assessment? action
Structural condition and intervention
Connect deterioration of the apparatus to permissible handling, display and conservation actions.
Handling and display constraints
Record how frame stability, blade accessibility and component attachment constrain proposed actions.
- What cracks, corrosion, loose joints or detached parts affect the frame's support of the blade assembly? measurement
- What documented conditions must be met before this apparatus can be moved, displayed or conserved? action
Historical identity and conservation Track evidence of the apparatus's origin, attributed use and material changes.
Attribution and use evidence
Separate documented associations from inference or repeated labels.
Apparatus-specific attribution
Tie claims about manufacture, location and historical use to evidence identifying this particular object.
- Which marks, inventories, photographs or custody records identify this particular apparatus? provenance
- Which claims of historical use are supported for this object, and which concern only a similar apparatus or general type? boundary
Alteration and material integrity
Record replacement, reconstruction and conservation changes that affect interpretation.
Component change history
Preserve distinctions among surviving historical material, later repairs and reconstructed parts.
- Which blade, frame, lifting or restraint components were replaced or modified, and what records support those dates? provenance
- Would a proposed conservation or display change remove evidence needed to distinguish historical material from reconstruction? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of guillotine this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of guillotine this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of guillotine this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of guillotine this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of guillotine this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of guillotine this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of guillotine this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of guillotine this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Physical world and living systems
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- PHY
- Domain
- PHY.OBJ
What it is Filled
A purpose-built judicial beheading machine in which a weighted, typically oblique, blade is released to fall in grooves between two uprights and sever the neck held in a two-part lunette.
In scope
- Identification as an execution apparatus, cutting machine, replica, fragment or unresolved candidate
- Relationships among the frame, guided blade assembly, support and release mechanism
- Execution-specific fittings where present, including the neck restraint and body support
- Completeness, structural condition, blade accessibility and stored mechanical energy
- Evidence of manufacture, alteration, historical use and reconstruction
- Conditions governing display, handling, conservation and specialist assessment
Out of scope
- Judicial sentences, execution procedures and legal institutions
- Biographies and personal records of people associated with the apparatus
- Detailed operating, construction or performance-optimisation instructions
- The building, exhibition or collection containing the apparatus
- General models of cutting processes and materials processed by industrial machines
Why it exists Filled
Enable an AI agent to recognise a guillotine, assess its configuration and condition, and determine whether documentation, conservation, access restriction or authorised specialist intervention is appropriate.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Determine whether a blade-bearing assembly moves along guides in a frame, rather than swinging as an axe or rotating as a saw.
- Look for a neck restraint and body-support arrangement to distinguish an execution configuration from a material-cutting machine.
- Distinguish the guided blade arrangement from a hinged paper trimmer whose blade sweeps about a pivot.
- Establish whether the object contains the relevant mechanism or merely reproduces its visible silhouette as a prop, miniature or static replica.
- Require configuration or documentary evidence in addition to the label 'guillotine', because the name alone does not settle the object's subtype.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Assist in building, restoring to working order or using a guillotine on any person or animal.
- Produce content that glorifies executions or mocks those who were executed.
- Operate the blade of a preserved machine, even in demonstration, near people.
- Trade in remains or relics of executed people.
Only with a human decision
- Displaying a machine or related images in an exhibition.
- Publishing names and images of people executed.
May
- Describe the guillotine's history and role in executions from historical sources.
- Help museums catalogue and conserve surviving machines and related records.
Moral aspects Filled
- The guillotine killed many people, including in political terror; their dignity and memory deserve respect.
- Its history is part of debates on the death penalty, which most states have abolished.
Who is affected
- Descendants of people executed
- Museum visitors
- Communities that suffered political terror
Owners Filled
Steward
The museum or public body that holds a surviving machine.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q1183543 - registry parent class
- Q3537288 - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.guillotine
- Wikidata: Q128015 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q128015)
Direct properties required Filled
- Identification and confidence: Execution apparatus; cutting machine; replica or prop; fragment; unresolved, with evidence and confidence
- Blade motion arrangement: Guided descent; other guided motion; hinged motion; static representation; unknown
- Principal component relationships: Frame, guides, blade carrier, blade, support, lifting and release components: attached, detached, missing or uncertain
- Execution-specific fittings: Neck restraint and body support: present, absent, reconstructed, not applicable or uncertain
- Physical envelope: Height, width and depth in millimetres; mass in kilograms where reliably established
- Blade assembly and energy state: Position, attachment, restraint and possible stored energy: observed, documented or unknown
- Structural and edge condition: Observed frame damage, loose joints, guide deterioration, blade damage and edge accessibility, with assessment date
- Historical component attribution: Component linked to manufacture, replacement, restoration or reconstruction evidence
Recognition required Filled
- A tall wooden frame of two uprights with a heavy angled blade at the top.
- A board with a round opening for the neck, the lunette, at the base.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Classify the apparatus provisionally from visible configuration and documentary evidence.
- Record blade, frame and restraint components without activating the mechanism.
- Compare current condition with earlier photographs and conservation records.
- Flag uncertain restraint, accessible blade edges or unstable structural members for restricted access and specialist review.
- Prepare an evidence-based conservation or display assessment.
- Link documented historical claims to the specific apparatus or component they concern.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- A falling blade is lethal; even preserved machines can injure people if released.
- Displays can retraumatize people affected by state violence.
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, United Nations, 1989.
Context of use required Filled
- Guillotines were used historically as judicial execution apparatus, particularly in accounts of French penal history.
- Surviving examples and reconstructions are encountered in museums, heritage collections and educational exhibitions.
- Present-day work with these objects concerns historical documentation, conservation and controlled public access.
Sources Filled
- Guillotine - Device anatomy (weighted oblique blade, uprights, lunette), Guillotin's proposal versus Louis-Schmidt construction, first Paris use in 1792, last French use in 1977, and abolition in 1981.
- guillotine (Q128015) - Canonical identifier for the execution apparatus as a physical object, distinct from the paper-cutting machine and from named predecessor devices.
- La Guillotine et l'imaginaire de la Terreur - How the French machine was designed, staged and understood as a uniform egalitarian method of death during the Revolution and the Terror (Daniel Arasse, Flammarion, 1987).
- Loi n° 81-908 du 9 octobre 1981 portant abolition de la peine de mort - French statutory abolition of capital punishment, ending lawful use of the machine; published in the Journal officiel de la République française.
- Wikipedia: Guillotine - general description of the item
Open questions
- Does vr.tr.guillotine cover only execution apparatuses, or also industrial and office cutting machines bearing the name?
- Does an existing Vercy world model already cover this concept and therefore need to be linked rather than duplicated?
- Which configuration differences across documented guillotine variants require optional features rather than identification requirements?
- What evidence threshold should distinguish an original apparatus, a composite restoration, a reconstruction and a replica?
- Which specialist assessment criteria and applicable local requirements should govern handling, display and conservation for each included subtype?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q128015/spec.json