Pentel ID Book Question 1 - Generation, Version &?

I am working on a new version of the Pentel ID Book, and I have a few questions I will be posting on here.

First, I am using some terminology to designate changes too pencils. Right now I am using Generation and Version.

Generation is the gradual design changes (sometimes for production purposes) to a pencil over time, but not being a major design change. The best example I have is for the P200 from my website, where I have broken down the changes into 6 major generations, with a few minor changes in there. P200, the Second Generation… and the third…and the fourth… and so on – Nimrodd's Blog

Version is either major changes an existing product, such as the PD345 switch from non-rubber grip to rubber grip or the AL15 & AL25 changes (3 versions each). The other use of Version I have been using is when Pentel makes a completely different pencil and calls it an old number, such as the P245 and the PD515.

This brings up my question. For this last use of Version, I would like to pick another term, and am open to suggestions. I am thinking “Type” at the moment, but I am not in love with that. Again, this would only be for the pencils that use the same number, but are obviously different pencil models.

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I have thought about this a bit in the past and have used Generation for major changes (logo, materials), Version for smaller changes (printing/marking, minor manufacturing improvements, etc, and Revision for minor changes for anything else which might be only obvious after seeing many instances of a model. This kind of flips you terminology. Generation feels like a larger change than Version and Version feels larger than revision.

There is the software release model and use versions with Major, Minor, and Revision. This is not as good of a match as the Generation, Version, and Revision model though.

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“First generation Mechanica” sounds right to me and indicates precisely what’s going on with defining changes to pencils over time.

And like @knocktype11, I consider “version” to indicate a smaller change—perhaps only cosmetic. I’m thinking of something like the printing differences on the P20X barrel (“0.5m/m vs. 0.5mm”).

And ultimately, I’d like to only see two terms in use here—generation and version—lest we get too far into the weeds.