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Just read that the first steam-powered dredge in the US was built in 1844 for the Erie Canal... that's way older than I thought.
Found it in an old engineering journal at the library and it made me wonder, what's the oldest piece of gear you've ever had to run or seen still working?
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robinb386mo ago
Buddy of mine works at a paper mill upstate. They've got a steam turbine from 1912 that still runs the main drive line for the whole building. Sounds like a train wreck when it spins up, but the damn thing just won't quit. They keep it going because replacing it would mean shutting down for six months.
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betty_miller6mo ago
You ever wonder how much stuff is still running on pure stubbornness? My uncle's farm had an old diesel generator from the 40s that sounded like a bag of hammers in a dryer. We all knew it was on borrowed time, but the cost to swap it out was more than the farm made in a year. Sometimes the old gear just becomes part of the place, you know?
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