# Oldest machines that are still in practical use **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 14, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508 "2015-06-14T14:09:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/21 "2015-06-14T16:58:06Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > B-52’s were first put in service 60 years ago. Not sure if any specific B-52 from then is still flying, but unlike tractors, there’s no real replacement. We’re still using the old thing. There was a B-52 that was flown by an air force pilot, his son and his grandson back in the 90s. There may be one that’s flown by a great-granddaughter now. The thing about planes is the one that exists today is not really the same physical plane as was built. The fuselage and the wings may have had extensive work and replacement. But the plane number lives on. Terry Pratchet wrote a book on which a plot point revolves around the issue of whether a thing that has had work done on it is the same object. And B-52’s are amazing. Designed and built based on 1950’s technology and the idea that there’s no such thing as over engineering, On the other hand, the F-117 was deactivated after only about 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/22 "2015-06-14T17:03:20Z")
The first thing that popped into my head was some sort of elevator or possibly an amusement park ride somewhere. A little Googling reveals that there is some debate concerning which elevator can lay claim to the title of ‘world’s oldest elevator,’ but there are numerous references to still-functioning Otis installations dating back to the late nineteenth century. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/23 "2015-06-14T17:12:31Z")
Not quite as old as some of the factory machinery people are referring to, but power transformers like the ones used in substations can last a long, long time if they aren’t overloaded. I’m working on a project right now to replace one that was built in 1958, and it still works just fine. It just hums loud enough that the neighbors are complaining. There’s at least one town in rural Minnesota served by a transformer built in the 1930s. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/24 "2015-06-14T17:25:14Z")
Thomas Jefferson’s house in Monticello was famous in the 1790’s for its “automatic doors”. A geared mechanism under the floor which, when you pushed one side of a set of double doors, pushed open the other door in synchronized motion. It still works today, and apparently has never needed a repair. (I wish my house was built that well… 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/25 "2015-06-14T17:27:11Z")
We use some antique Kluge foil emboss/die cutters at the printing plant. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/26 "2015-06-14T17:28:51Z")
> [@Marion\_Wormer](#): > > The thing about planes is the one that exists today is not really the same physical plane as was built. The fuselage and the wings may have had extensive work and replacement. But the plane number lives on. Terry Pratchet wrote a book on which a plot point revolves around the issue of whether a thing that has had work done on it is the same object. [This article](http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/183080-b-52-receives-first-tech-upgrade-since-1961-now-with-color-screens-and-wireless-networking) seems to suggest that B-52s used the same avionics all the way up until last year. I find that hard to believe; apart from anything else, the systems would have been modified for compatibility with new weapons systems. ---
**Author:** ![Bert\_Nobbins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@Bert\_Nobbins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bert_Nobbins)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/27 "2015-06-14T17:58:39Z")
It’s no longer part of the water supply system, but The Bull engine at Kew waterworks (London) was built in 1856 and only taken out of service in 1944. [http://www.waterandsteam.org.uk/our-engines/bull-engine](http://www.waterandsteam.org.uk/our-engines/bull-engine) It still works fine- I’ve seen it going. It should be easy to find old steam engines that worked much later than that, but I highly doubt if any are actually still in service today. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/28 "2015-06-14T18:29:04Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > This brings us to Theseus’ paradox. "_whether an object which has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object."_ [Ship of Theseus - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus)… Neat. I was going to mention the Allman Brothers Band and open this idea to discussion, but now you tell me somebody beat me by 2000 years. I hate it when that happens. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/29 "2015-06-14T18:37:50Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Thomas Jefferson’s house in Monticello was famous in the 1790’s for its “automatic doors”. > A geared mechanism under the floor which, when you pushed one side of a set of double doors, pushed open the other door in synchronized motion. > It still works today, and apparently has never needed a repair. > (I wish my house was built that well… 🙂 ) If you imagine how it was used, when, how often and by whom… it’s no surprise. It is a well-built mechanism (I’ve studied it), but it was only used infrequently, by the servants, who handled it like fine china. A few kids whipping it open and closed a couple of times a day would have a different overall effect. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/30 "2015-06-14T18:48:29Z")
> [@dr\_zippermeyer](#): > > Please give me examples of old machines that are still in use - not because of nostalgic value but because they are still doing their job so well they don’t need to be replaced or redesigned. For example the tractor of my family soon turns 60 but it still does its job adequately. But I have heard there are much older tractors still in use. You can name both old designs that are still in production and machines that were built long time ago. > > With a machine I mean somewhat complex mechanical or electrical system. I can’t define that any better. 😕 RE “old designs that are still in production” [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadoof) over 4000 years old and going strong. > [@](#): > > The shadoof consists of an upright frame on which is suspended a long pole or branch, at a distance of about one-fifth of its length from one end. At the long end of this pole hangs a bucket, skin bag, or bitumen-coated reed basket. The bucket can be made in many different styles, sometimes having an uneven base or a part at the top of the skin that can be untied. This allows the water to be immediately distributed rather than manually emptied. The short end carries a weight (clay, stone, or similar) which serves as the counterpoise of a lever. When correctly balanced, the counterweight will support a half-filled bucket, so some effort is used to pull an empty bucket down to the water, but only the same effort is needed to lift a full bucket. > > With an almost effortless swinging and lifting motion, the waterproof vessel is used to scoop up and carry water from one body of water (typically, a river or pond) to another. At the end of each movement, the water is emptied out into runnels that convey the water along irrigation ditches in the required direction. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/31 "2015-06-14T19:08:59Z")
The C&O Canal in Washington, DC went operational in 1831. It’s still used for tourist trips and the gates still operate. I would imagine that there are still old olive presses in operation in some parts of the world. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/32 "2015-06-14T19:14:25Z")
[Paper clip machines](http://www.innovationgateway.org/content/how-do-you-make-paper-clips-1). Not super old, but interesting none-the-less. > [@](#): > > “How do you make paper clips? People wonder about that,” says Charles Frohman. “Most people guess that you pour molten metal into a mold or die. Here’s how we really do it.” Frohman is executive vice president of Labelon/Noesting Company, in Mount Vernon, New York, one of three manufacturers of paper clips in the United States. We’re standing amid a bank of six 70- or 80-year-old machines, each of which is taking galvanized steel wire from a spool, straightening it, folding it, and cutting it into a paper clip. > > The machine was made in Bridgeport, Connecticut. “Bridgeport was the metal-forming capital of America,” Frohman says. “Almost all the machines you see were made in Bridgeport sometime between **1913 and the 1940s**.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/33 "2015-06-14T19:18:58Z")
Something that’s been in the news lately. When I was working in Clinton Prison in the nineteen-eighties, they were still using some of the old pre-electric gates. They ran on a big flywheel and inertia. I don’t know if they’re still using them thirty years later. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/34 "2015-06-14T19:51:57Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > [This article](http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/183080-b-52-receives-first-tech-upgrade-since-1961-now-with-color-screens-and-wireless-networking) seems to suggest that B-52s used the same avionics all the way up until last year. I find that hard to believe; apart from anything else, the systems would have been modified for compatibility with new weapons systems. That article is about a major upgrade to the whole avionics system from end to end. Over the years from even the early 1960s, many new black boxes had been bolted in. Most, as you suggest, related to new weapons, radar, or electronic warfare. This is more about replacing the basic instrumentation needed to fly and navigate the airplane and co-exist with ATC. ---
**Author:** ![Vaevictis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f04885/32.png) [@Vaevictis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaevictis)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/35 "2015-06-14T20:10:39Z")
Yeah the whole B-52 thing is mostly that what electronics it has and what it can do are radically different from its older versions. So I can’t get behind anybody acting like it is still more or less the same thing. I’m sure you can find many examples of artillery bores that were far more advanced than their carriage, after all. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Angry\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b38774/32.png) [@The\_Angry\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Angry_Badger)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/36 "2015-06-14T20:10:48Z")
> [@campp](#): > > There are examples of 19th century factory machinery that are still being used as originally intended. I can’t think of any links off the top of my head, but it’s not that uncommon. The Hook Norton Brewery has a [steam engine](https://www.hooky.co.uk/about-us/steam-engine.ashx) that’s been in use since 1899 and is still doing its thing. Although it is still used for its original purpose, I think it’s around now for nostalgia/tourism purposes as much as anything. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/37 "2015-06-14T20:59:01Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > This brings us to Theseus’ paradox. "_whether an object which has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object."_ [Ship of Theseus - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus) I have a Papermate ball point pen in my pocket right now (the kind with a clicker on the top) which I acquired in 1973. I’ve replaced all of the components several times, but never more than one at a time. I call it “Theseus’ pen.” I maintain that it is the same pen as it always was. My friends all maintain that I am a dork. As for the machine tools that have been mentioned (Bridgeport milling machines, lathes, etc.), old machines are more than just curiosities. Most of the machinists that I know (and I know quite a few, being in the business) maintain that the best, most accurate machines must be decades old, not only due to the better quality of production in the first half of the twentieth century, but also for the stability of the structure that comes with age. So yeah, there are an awful lot of well maintained, highly prized machine tools out there from before WW II. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/38 "2015-06-14T21:16:51Z")
Does the Great Clock in Westminster count? [Installed in the 1850s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz9nxzgtBaU) It was badly damaged in a ‘metal fatigue’ accident in the 1970s but is still largely the same machine. And the ‘going train’ (I think) is wound using an old electric motor. The chap in the video says it’s from 1942, but I swear it’s supposed to be 1912, but he’s one of the clock keepers, so I guess he’d be better informed… ---
**Author:** ![filmstar-en](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/39 "2015-06-14T21:18:09Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > B-52’s were first put in service 60 years ago. Not sure if any specific B-52 from then is still flying, but unlike tractors, there’s no real replacement. We’re still using the old thing. > > Are any of the original hydroturbines at Niagara Falls still connected to the grid? > > How about some of the canal locks in Europe? Any really old ones still in use? Some canal locks date from 1653. The question of whether the original parts are still in place is discussed here amogst UK canal geeks. > **[Oldest lock still in use](https://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?%2Ftopic%2F18364-oldest-lock-still-in-use%2F)** > > Which is the oldest lock in Britain still in use? Sollom lock on the Rufford branch of the L&LC was built by the Douglas Navigation circa 1760 and, although now level, still has boats passing through the original chamber. Is it the oldest? Also... Canals and lock systems to move boats up and down hills and valleys go back to the times of the Egyptian Pharoes, as indeed do irrigation systems used to move water around. Are these systems sophisticated enough to count? Wind and water mills can have pretty intricate mechanical gearing systems and they go back a long way. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508/40 "2015-06-14T21:20:35Z")
Looms go back thousands of years and should definitely be classed as machines. I can only find a cite for a still-working loom that dates from the 1840’s, but I’ll bet there are some in museums or private hands that are even older and can still weave cloth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oldest-machines-that-are-still-in-practical-use/722508.md?page=3)