Pain and machines

Some of Descartes' followers are accused of treating the noises animals make when to all appearances in pain  like the grating of a machine and hence as unconscious.  But someone could have the reverse attitude:

"The pump," said Mma Potokwane.  "It is making a very strange noise.  The water comes all right, but the pump makes a noise as if it is in pain."
"Engines do feel pain," said Mr J.L.B. Matekoni. "They tell us of their pain by making a noise." (Alexander McCall Smith, Tears of the Giraffe)

Without endorsing Matekoni's conclusion, doesn't it feel like one is causing pain to a tool if one uses it in such a way that it complains by creaking, grating or binding?