Our March 2009 feature "Great Old Appliances" covered a 1926 stove, a 1936 toaster, a 1954 dryer, and several other trusted but old home products.

But one lightbulb—an incandescent bulb at that—has those young whippersnappers beat by decades. Commonly referred to as the Centennial Bulb (shown), this 4-watt incandescent lightbulb made by the Shelby Electric Company has been burning almost continuously in Livermore, California, since 1901, serving as a night-light in different firehouses in the Northern California city. Read more about this indefatigable incandescent and check out the bulb's webcam. I wonder whether there's a line in Las Vegas for when the light will finally expire.

You're unlikely to get anywhere near that longevity out of a standard incandescent lightbulb. In fact, a 15-watt incandescents I installed yesterday has a life expectancy of 2,000 hours. (I can't find compact fluorescent lightbulbs that will fit the fixture.)

By comparison, the Livermore Methuselah (or should that be Rasputin?) has been burning for more than 950,000 hours.