Classical taxonomy: a holistic perspective of temperature measuring systems and instruments

Temperature measuring systems and instruments are ordered within a machine kingdom which is a sublevel of the hyperkingdom of terrestrial entities. The concept of a key-diagram, which is similar to that used with the animal and plant kingdoms, is shown to be appropriate in the machine kingdom classification. Applying taxonomic principles leads to a holistic perspective of technical instruments, adaptive measuring systems and thermal system identification. Characterising systems and instruments by function, structure and energy form is shown to provide a rational foundation for such a taxonomy. Tree diagrams or dendrographs, similar to the classical types in bioscience, are obtained for temperature sensors and their conditioners as well as for data output transducers.