HP CArd Readers - Longevity

[larthurl]

As most people here know, the card readers in the HP-65, HP-67, HP-41 and others become non-functional after 20, 30 or 40 years. The wheels (rubber?) used to transport the card turn to goo or at the least become soft.

Do you think HP never imagined these calculators working for decades and therefore didn't use better (and more costly) material in the card reader drive mechanism? Was there even better material in the 1970s and 1980s? And for the card readers that are getting re-built today with O-rings, how long will these O-rings last?

Just curious.