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Discussion » Questions » Life and Society » Has there ever been any machine or engine that has stayed working for onehundred years without any form of maintenance.
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Has there ever been any machine or engine that has stayed working for onehundred years without any form of maintenance.

There are human,animials and whales that live 278 years old and still going strong also trees 1000 years plus...

Posted - February 12, 2020
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Responses


  • 6988
    Years ago, I read about a steam engine that was still powering a factory since the 1800's. That is all I remember.
      February 12, 2020 9:00 AM MST
    3

  • 14795
    New cars with so much electronic bits and bobs are all just scrap if they go wrong after five of six years...
      February 12, 2020 4:45 PM MST
    1

  • 44232
    I can only reference a vacuum sweeper in England that still functions after 112 years in 2016. There is no mention of maintenance, though. There is a light bulb in a fire station the has been shining since 1901, but it isn't a machine.
      February 12, 2020 11:44 AM MST
    4

  • 14795
    How heavy was that light bulb ? 
      February 12, 2020 4:34 PM MST
    1

  • 6023
    Well, if you make comparisons of animals to machines ... wouldn't you count "maintenance" of the living as stuff like eating and cleaning?
    Even trees have "maintenance" of shedding leaves or collecting nutrients.  

    So, I would say ... No.  There is no living organisms or machines that go for more than a few days without maintenance of some form.
      February 12, 2020 1:38 PM MST
    4

  • 14795
    I was thinking more of parts breaking or failing and not like needing grease ,oil or filter changes...again things like brakes pads  or manual clutch parts meant to be changed when needed...
      February 12, 2020 4:17 PM MST
    1

  • 16240
    The Earth has been in the same orbit for billions of years, does that count?
      February 12, 2020 4:28 PM MST
    3

  • 14795
    Only if it learns to speak does it become a possibility..:( 
      February 12, 2020 4:35 PM MST
    0

  • 44232
    Not a machine.
      February 12, 2020 7:31 PM MST
    0

  • 16240
    It is several types of natural machine. A dynamo for starters (iron core rotating within a magnetic field, it can't help but generate electricity).
      February 13, 2020 2:48 AM MST
    1

  • 14795
    But what if it stops turning and it's static, what will this bright spark come out with then ?   
      February 13, 2020 3:54 AM MST
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  • At 98 years of age Ms. Betty White comes pretty damn close and as far as I know she hasn't had any work done.  A fine piece of comic machinery.  You go gurl!
      February 12, 2020 4:44 PM MST
    3

  • 44232
    A bit of cosmetic maintenance.
      February 12, 2020 7:32 PM MST
    2

  • 17398
    Who would know for sure?  As far as I know there is a gristmill near my former home that was built in the 1800s.  I can only say I never saw maintenance being done on it between 1970s and 2017.  There are many 100-year-old structures still be used today.  I would certainly expect hand coffee mills to work for hundreds of years.
      February 12, 2020 8:44 PM MST
    1

  • 14795
    I never thought of things like that...There must be things like old hand made watches that still are fully functional after 100 years...
      February 13, 2020 4:01 AM MST
    1

  • 343
    No clear-cut answer from me. Considering a machine in conventional terms though, one thinks of moving parts, and I think the slightest cleaning, adjustment, and certainly oiling, would count as maintenance. Interesting kind of question to come across out of the blue though.  
      February 13, 2020 6:31 AM MST
    0

  • 2836
    My mouth, as a bio-mechanism, has not stopped moving since the day I was born. 
      February 13, 2020 5:11 PM MST
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  • 4631
    I've seen some which were collected by museums when near new
    - surviving only because they weren't in use and were kept well sheltered.

    I don't think we can get past wear and tear.
    Just from the physics of friction, it would probably be impossible for any machine that is regularly used to last that long.
    All things are transient.
    I've heard mechanics say that the more moving parts a machine has, the sooner it is likely to breakdown or wear out.

      February 13, 2020 9:16 PM MST
    0