{
    "model": {
        "rank": 13112,
        "code": "thing-q839546",
        "model_id": "vr.tr.machine-element",
        "name": "machine element",
        "purpose": "Let an agent explain machine elements, relay categories, functions, standards and design considerations from mechanical engineering sources, and distinguish machine elements from assemblies and machines as a whole, structural members, electronic components and simple machines in physics teaching.",
        "family": "Thing Registry",
        "category": "Physical world and living systems",
        "status": "research-draft",
        "kind": "thing",
        "plane": "PHY",
        "domain": "PHY.OBJ",
        "industry": "",
        "version": "",
        "url": "/models/thing/q839546/",
        "tier": 2,
        "score": 38,
        "payload": {
            "layer": "wikidata",
            "aliases": [],
            "aliasCount": 0,
            "merged": 0,
            "knownIn": 38,
            "facets": null,
            "markers": [],
            "lexicalClass": "",
            "senseRank": null,
            "alsoRegisteredAs": null,
            "source": {
                "dataset": "wikidata",
                "item": "Q839546",
                "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q839546",
                "license": "CC0 1.0"
            }
        },
        "research": {
            "vercy": "1.0-draft",
            "publication": {
                "status": "research-draft",
                "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed",
                "publishableCanonical": false,
                "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T23:53:45Z",
                "providers": [
                    "Claude"
                ],
                "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify",
                "pass": 2,
                "wave": 4,
                "engine": "claude"
            },
            "metaModel": {
                "id": "THING-Q839546",
                "registryId": "vr.tr.machine-element",
                "name": "machine element",
                "version": "0.2.0-wave.4",
                "entryKind": "thing",
                "family": "Thing Registry",
                "domain": [
                    "PHY.OBJ"
                ],
                "status": "research-draft"
            },
            "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q839546/",
            "model": {
                "registry_id": "vr.tr.machine-element",
                "name": "machine element",
                "purpose": "Let an agent explain machine elements, relay categories, functions, standards and design considerations from mechanical engineering sources, and distinguish machine elements from assemblies and machines as a whole, structural members, electronic components and simple machines in physics teaching.",
                "definition": "A basic mechanical component used as a building block of machines, including fasteners such as bolts, screws and rivets, joining elements such as keys, splines and couplings, bearings and bushings, shafts and axles, gears, belts, chains and pulleys for power transmission, springs, seals and brakes and clutches; machine elements are standardised in dimensions and ratings by bodies such as ISO, DIN and ANSI, and their design is taught in machine design courses using methods for strength, fatigue, wear and lubrication.",
                "what_it_is_for": "Building and transmitting power in machines.",
                "affordances": [
                    "explain categories and functions",
                    "relay standards",
                    "describe design considerations",
                    "distinguish related concepts"
                ],
                "distinguishing_features": [
                    "Standardised",
                    "Reusable across machines",
                    "Load and motion functions",
                    "Designed for life and reliability"
                ],
                "appearance": "Bolts, gears, bearings, springs, shafts and seals, often standardised parts.",
                "visual_identification": [
                    "Basic mechanical component",
                    "Machine element, mechanical component, machine part",
                    "Assemblies combine elements; structural members carry building loads; electronic components handle signals; simple machines are physics teaching models"
                ],
                "physical_properties": [
                    {
                        "quantity": "standards bodies",
                        "typical_range": "ISO, DIN, ANSI and others",
                        "unit": "list",
                        "note": ""
                    },
                    {
                        "quantity": "failure modes studied",
                        "typical_range": "fatigue, wear, corrosion",
                        "unit": "list",
                        "note": ""
                    },
                    {
                        "quantity": "registry parents",
                        "typical_range": "nonbiological component, technological component",
                        "unit": "note",
                        "note": ""
                    }
                ],
                "families_and_kinds": [
                    "fasteners",
                    "bearings and bushings",
                    "power transmission elements",
                    "springs",
                    "seals, brakes and clutches"
                ],
                "related_models": [
                    {
                        "relation": "is a kind of",
                        "target": "physical technological component",
                        "why": "in registry terms"
                    },
                    {
                        "relation": "includes",
                        "target": "bearing (mechanical)",
                        "why": ""
                    },
                    {
                        "relation": "includes",
                        "target": "gear",
                        "why": ""
                    },
                    {
                        "relation": "is contrasted with",
                        "target": "simple machine",
                        "why": ""
                    }
                ],
                "identifiers": [],
                "standards_and_regulation": [
                    "ISO standards for fasteners, bearings and gears",
                    "EU Machinery Regulation 2023/1230"
                ],
                "failure_modes_and_hazards": [
                    "Fatigue failure",
                    "Using non-rated parts",
                    "Improper lubrication"
                ],
                "in_scope": [],
                "out_of_scope": [],
                "characteristics": []
            },
            "sources": [],
            "structure": {
                "bundles": [
                    {
                        "id": "understand",
                        "name": "Understand",
                        "description": "What a machine element is.",
                        "rationale": "Definition.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "definition",
                                "name": "Definition",
                                "description": "Definition.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "definition-finding",
                                        "name": "Definition",
                                        "description": "Definition.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "What is a machine element, and how does it differ from assemblies, structural members, electronic components and simple machines?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Is the question about design, maintenance, standards or learning?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "categories",
                                "name": "Categories",
                                "description": "Categories.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "categories-finding",
                                        "name": "Categories",
                                        "description": "Categories.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "What are the main categories of machine elements?",
                                                "kind": "definition"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits the specific element?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "design",
                        "name": "Design",
                        "description": "Design.",
                        "rationale": "Science.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "strength",
                                "name": "Strength",
                                "description": "Strength and fatigue.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "strength-finding",
                                        "name": "Strength",
                                        "description": "Strength.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How are elements designed against static and fatigue failure?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which references are standard?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "tribology",
                                "name": "Tribology",
                                "description": "Wear and lubrication.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "tribology-finding",
                                        "name": "Tribology",
                                        "description": "Tribology.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How do friction, wear and lubrication affect bearings and gears?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which sources are cited?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "standards",
                        "name": "Standards",
                        "description": "Standards.",
                        "rationale": "Regulation.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "iso",
                                "name": "ISO",
                                "description": "Standard parts.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "iso-finding",
                                        "name": "ISO",
                                        "description": "ISO.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "Why are fasteners and bearings standardised internationally?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits International Organization for Standardization?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "safety",
                                "name": "Safety",
                                "description": "Machinery safety.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "safety-finding",
                                        "name": "Safety",
                                        "description": "Safety.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How do machinery safety rules apply to guards around moving elements?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Is the information current?",
                                                "kind": "boundary"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    {
                        "id": "context",
                        "name": "Context",
                        "description": "History.",
                        "rationale": "Context.",
                        "layers": [
                            {
                                "id": "reuleaux",
                                "name": "Reuleaux",
                                "description": "Kinematics of machines.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "reuleaux-finding",
                                        "name": "Reuleaux",
                                        "description": "Reuleaux.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How did Franz Reuleaux classify machine elements?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits Franz Reuleaux?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            },
                            {
                                "id": "maintenance",
                                "name": "Maintenance",
                                "description": "Maintenance.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "maintenance-finding",
                                        "name": "Maintenance",
                                        "description": "Maintenance.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "text": "How are worn elements inspected and replaced?",
                                                "kind": "provenance"
                                            },
                                            {
                                                "text": "Which entry fits predictive maintenance?",
                                                "kind": "action"
                                            }
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ]
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            },
            "openQuestions": [
                "Should each element category be a separate entry?",
                "How should standards catalogues be linked?",
                "Should machine design textbooks be linked?"
            ],
            "statistics": {
                "bundles": 4,
                "layers": 8,
                "findings": 8,
                "questions": 16
            }
        },
        "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 machine element, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.",
            "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain machine elements, relay categories, functions, standards and design considerations from mechanical engineering sources, and distinguish machine elements from assemblies and machines as a whole, structural members, electronic components and simple machines in physics teaching.",
            "characteristics": {
                "substance": "material",
                "origin": "manufactured",
                "agency": "inert",
                "mobility": "varies"
            },
            "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [
                "observed and measured"
            ],
            "distinguishingFeatures": [
                "Described in 38 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 machine element, 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": [],
            "standing": "Described in 38 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.",
            "structure": {
                "bundles": [
                    {
                        "id": "identity-and-classification",
                        "name": "Identity, naming and classification",
                        "description": "How an agent tells one machine element from another, and a machine element 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 machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element from the things most often confused with it.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "distinguishing-features-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element is built from and which parts are replaceable.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "parts-and-materials-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the composition of a machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element is judged and by whom.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "condition-assessment-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the condition of a machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element is, and what that position is measured against.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "position-and-frame-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the location of a machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element between them.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element, how often and by whom.",
                                "findings": [
                                    {
                                        "id": "observation-record",
                                        "name": "Observation record",
                                        "description": "How an observation of a machine element 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 machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element and how confident it is.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "claim-provenance-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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 machine element is retired without being erased.",
                                        "questions": [
                                            {
                                                "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01",
                                                "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a machine element, 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 machine element, 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 machine element 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
            }
        }
    }
}