Just bought a HP-67 calculator at an auction

[teenix]

(08-25-2020 03:20 PM)Chr Yoko Wrote:  This "gummy wheels" issue seems to come from the material degradation over time.

Look at your engine bay and you will see plenty of long lasting engineered application specific rubber materials ;-)

Yes, but aren't we talking 50 years or so, what manufacturer in their right mind would create products to last that long even if they could, especially in the cheap throw away world of today. The fact the many old calculators of that era are still working surely says a lot about the manufacturing standards. I don't know how long the engineers expected the devices to last especially with rapid technology advances, but I would doubt this long.

I don't imagine looking under the hood of a 50 year old car that is used daily and still has original rubber hoses and the like, let alone seat coverings, paint etc, and although better materials nowadays, modern car parts don't always last either - usually when the warranty expires ;-) I guess long lasting materials don't do much for the environment either after they are discarded.

I fly 50 year old aircraft daily in conditions that would make the designers cringe so I'm glad in this instance they did a good job :-)

cheers

Tony.