Treadmills were first invented to torture inmates
Known as tread-wheel, these machines were made by William Cubitt in 1822 to punish idle prisoners
(Web Desk) – For anyone with no fitness habits, treadmills are clearly a torture machine. In fact, these treadmills were first invested to torture inmates, way back a century ago.
Known as tread-wheel, these machines were invented by Sir William Cubitt in England during 1822 for the sole purpose of punishing idle prisoners.
Treadmills are now worth over USD 14 billion in the fitness industry, however, they were only used as torture machines for prisoners during the seventeenth century.
The prisoners were asked to walk on the paddles for long hours and the machine looked like a wheel to extract water. Its use even became popular in American prisons over the period of time.
Prisoners were forced to do hard labour on these tread-wheels for as many as 10 hours every day to pump water and crush grain.
Renowned Irish playwright and novelist Oscar Wilde, in his of being jailed for indecency, also recalled that he was forced to spend hours of hard labour in the tread-wheel.
Anyhow, the cruel machine to torture criminals was banned in Britain following the Prisons Act of 1898 while its first patent as an exercise treadmill was filed in 1913.
The use of treadmill for exercise purposes became common as people started encouraging themselves for an active lifestyle. The lack of physical activity after the industrialisation inspired people to use these machines to stay in shape.
