Why they stopped
What ended a hundred and thirty-five working lives
Nineteen of the hundred and thirty-five broke. The other hundred and sixteen stopped being used while still working.
Six reasons a thing stops
A hundred and thirty-five objects stopped being used. Nineteen of them broke. The other hundred and sixteen stopped while still working.
Nineteen broke
One object in fifteen, across eleven workplaces and ten arrival years. What broke, when, and why the number is lower than anybody expects.
Thirty-eight replaced by something better
The largest reason a thing stops, the one in which nothing went wrong, and the only one that reliably creates a second object.
Thirty-one stopped because the work changed
The second largest reason, and the only one where the object is irrelevant. What happens to equipment when the task it was bought for stops happening.
Twenty-four stopped for no reason anybody can give
Eighteen per cent of the stops have no cause attached. Either a real phenomenon or a failure of the instrument, and this record cannot tell which.
Thirteen because the room changed
A move, a rearrangement, or a different window. Thirteen objects stopped being used because where they stood stopped existing.
Ten went because somebody else needed them
The smallest reason in the record, and the only one in which the object goes on being used. Why it is counted as a stop at all.
Why breaking is smaller than anybody expects
Nineteen of a hundred and thirty-five. Four reasons why the expectation is wrong, and one reason why the record might be understating it.
What the record cannot see about stopping
Seven things the stopping field does not record, and what each omission costs the figures in this section.