The Light Bulb That Ran For Years And Years!

reply to post by Screwed


Most firearms and Snap-on tools are built to last.

Originally posted by exile1981
I was driving along the highway yesterday when my 2002 truck wich had just gone past 300,000km on it started miss firing. I limped into the next town along the highway which luckily had a dealership. Turns out that wire from the coil to a spark plug had come loose. Just as I go there a guy driving another truck just like mine (2002 and he had also just passed 300,000km) came in from the highway and it turned out that his truck had the same exact wire come loose as mine. What is the chances of that It was funny but this thread made me think about just how unlikely that was.

In fact, every device has a number of weak points. I had a conversation with a VW owner some years ago, who drove the same model as I, and we had 100% similar failure patterns in a few systems. And I mean 100%. Not all things broke, only a few but these few were the same.

reply to post by SirMike


Funny you should say that,
I was just thinking about what I own that is built to last and the only things I could really come up with was my Machete and my firearms.

God help us when Firearms are built with a preset number of shots fired built in.

Also, am I the only one who has heard of ammunition being made with a shelf life/expiration date?
Supposedly to prevent ammo hording.

Originally posted by buddhasystem

Originally posted by Arbitrageur
The heavy duty models are more expensive to make, sell for more, and last longer. This would be ideal if we could get this kind of choice in every product, but it's not very practical to do it with everything, like cars.

Arb, I can't agree with this. Many years ago, when Mercedes were still good cars, you could buy one, for more money and God did it last! I drove a 18 yo Mercedes which was in a top shape, really. I sold it later. Now you'll probably go with something else.

What I was trying to say was, if you went to a Mercedes dealer (now or 18 years ago), you wouldn't get a choice of a more durable model, and a less durable model, like you get when choosing an air compressor.

I don't dispute the durability of new models offered may have declined over time, that seems to be pretty common with a lot of things, like the example I gave of my two panasonic microwave ovens.

Pre planed obsolescence would be the Tesla bulb cause there was nothing in it.
Tesla lit up nothing.
Whatever was left banged up against the glass to illuminate.
Very unprofitable to Edison and the Illuminati.

There are other Tesla bulbs like safe X rays and power beams for his
flying machine.

Too bed news from the Tesla front is lacking these days.

Originally posted by Screwed
reply to post by SirMike

 

Funny you should say that,
I was just thinking about what I own that is built to last and the only things I could really come up with was my Machete and my firearms.

God help us when Firearms are built with a preset number of shots fired built in.

Also, am I the only one who has heard of ammunition being made with a shelf life/expiration date?
Supposedly to prevent ammo hording.

Being a simple machine, it is not hard to find people who craft them privately.

The best guns i have ever seen were made by small time craftsmen. One shotgun was made by these brothers. one does the metal work, the other the wood word. It was blue steel inlaid with gold, with mahogony stock. Breathtakingly beautiful

While i am fond of my Mossberg, I have no qualms about owning a craftsman's weapon.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


I only ever used the jeans. I have a strop as well and the paste is something I have heard of (i used to use a straight razor to shave). But yeah, the jeans alone work fine.

Tips: Start with a brand new one. you can sharpen old ones on jeans but they have pits in the blade (microscopic) etc...

Don't do it too early, but dont wait until its super dull either. And dont store the razor IN the shower! Hope this helps.

And again, jeans only is all I ever used in the last 2 years =)

It's great to see this bulb still working but not all that terribly surprising because of the fact it's seldom been switched on & off. The stress of a cold switch-on is the most demanding moment in any filament lamp's lifetime and this particular lamp hasn't suffered many of those in it's century of continuous operation. It must have had a few though as I'd be even more amazed to learn that the power supply there hasn't ever failed in over 100 years

It was even suggested about 40 years ago that average everyday filament lamps be fitted with a NTC (negative temperature coefficient) thermistor in the base to soften the switch-on shock and drastically increase their lifetime but manufacturer's profits would have plummeted unless the price of the longlife bulbs was made so high that no-one would have bought them anyway. You need mass consumption to support mass production so cheap n vulnerable is the way to go from a manufacturer's viewpoint.

This is something you will see in food as well its not quite planned obsolecence but the best before date can be weeks or months before the food is inedible.

I found a pack of crips in my kitchen (USA guys call them chips?) they where 6 months out of there best before date. On a hmmm I wonder if moment I opened the pack and tried on it was like i had Just bought the packet that day.

Now not all foods will last long past ther display or best before date but I could bet that there are hundreds of food types out there that would.

The best before dates on some food stuff seem to me just a way of having you throw out perfectly good food, in favour of the manufacturor making more money by keep there stock on the shelf for as little time as possible.

Planned obsolescence is not a bad thing. It creates jobs.

Originally posted by masterp
Planned obsolescence is not a bad thing. It creates jobs.

See the parable of the broken window.

I suppose some of this could be chalked up to more simplistic design in older devices. You know the old KISS theory "Keep it stupid simple" or something, anything with less moving parts/mechanisms and chingamagogs is bound to have a longer shelf life.

Not that I am trying to deny that certain corporations may practice this, but I had an old 94 (not really that old) chevy cavalier that was nothing more than an engine and four wheels and that thing ran forever and took quite a beating. I wish they made the new ones just like the old cheap pos they used to, I wouldn't buy any other car.

Haven't read the full thread so forgive me if this has already been covered.

One of the biggest cons of manufacturers is bringing out new models with little added features. Back in the day you would buy a TV and only replace it after it failed and could not be repaired cost effectively, Now people wanted HD, then higher def and then 3D.

They're adding wifi and recording features, well as much as they can cram in to make a new model seemingly every month. Hands up, have you replaced a perfectly good electrical appliance or gadget just because they brought out a newer model?

Let's move to computer software, instead of what they used to do (release an update or add on for a small fee) they now release a completely new version for the full price. The old version that was perfectly useable is now tossed aside.

We go on about recycling and making products that can be recycled when the real effort should go into making products that will not only last but can be upgraded easily or just stop manufacturers releasing new models so frequently.

Until we stop living in a disposable society manufacturers will continue to fleece us on a regular basis, or should I say we will continue to fleece ourselves.

Planned obsolescence is very apparent in computer hardware and software.
Take IDE and SATA for example. If you take it down to the bare cable and interface then the only difference is the shape. They both have copper cable within the connection, perfectly capable of sending signals from either device down them, but we were forced to go SATA due to a shape change on the port.
Software and specifically games are a major culprit in the PC gaming. Deliberately slowed down on lower end systems which would otherwise be more than capable of running them. Consoles can not be upgraded, hardware wise, without 3rd party intervention, so the games themselves contain shader information to utilize new effects. In other words the GPU is programmable to "upgrade" it's self. The first time I saw this happening was with the Playstation 1. On the PC market, why allow the GPU to be programmable and for people to upgrade it for free when you can force them to sell and pay another $400 for a new card?