I was watching this video earlier, and it held a special interest for me because my parents had one of those carpet cleaners when I was a child (and maybe still do). They never used it, of course. It was just an antique objet d'art. But as I watched this one being dismantled and the ancient rubber scraped off the wheels, I realized how... I don't know, disrespectful, the process can be.
This was a machine which has been obsolete for almost a century. It's done its purpose. Now it's not really useful for anything but historical curiosity, so is it really "restoration" that he's doing here? Restoration implies functionality. I don't know if the restorer is going to use it for carpet cleaning, but I doubt it.
I keep thinking about antique coins, and how the patina is part of what gives the coin its value. Remove the patina and you just have a slightly-worn chunk of metal. It feels like, to me, at least, that the value of this carpet cleaner is in the age of it, rather than its usefulness.
Guess I was just feeling philosophical this evening.
EDIT: since embedding is disabled, here is a screenshot of the video thumbnail
