Treadwheel

Ox powered treadwheel

The word treadmill, originally a type of mill operated by a person treading steps of a wheel to grind grain, now designates a piece of indoor sporting equipment for running without moving any distance.

A treadwheel is a form of animal engine typically powered by humans. It may resemble a water wheel in appearance, and can be worked either by a human treading paddles set into its circumference (treadmill), or by a human or animal standing inside it (treadwheel).

Uses of treadwheels included raising water, to power cranes, or grind grain. They were used extensively in the Greek and Roman world, such as in the reverse overshot water-wheel used for dewatering purposes.

They were used in prisons as penal labor in the early Victorian period in Britain as a form of punishment. According to The Times in 1827, and reprinted in William Hone's Table-Book in 1838, the amount prisoners walked per day on average varied, from 6,600 feet at Lewes to 17,000 feet in just ten hours during the summertime at Warwick gaol. ^[1]

A treadwheel was also used in a submarine in 1851 to pump air to change buoyancy and thus make the vessel dive or rise.

Treadwheel locations

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England

Berkshire.

• Reading - a treadmill was erected in the Prison in 1828 and removed in the 1850s. This treadmill was used to mill flour.

Buckinghamshire.

• Aylesbury - a treadmill was erected in the old gaol in 1820, and another treadmill was erected with the new gaol that was built in 1845. this treadmill seems to have been a composite one, working as a treadwheel and treadmill at the same time.

Cheshire.

• Knutsford - a treadwheel was in use in the House of Correction in 1843.

Cornwall.

• Bodmin - a treadwheel was in use in the Gaol from 1827-48. It was used to grind grain.
• Penzance - a treadwheel was in use in the gaol in 1840.

Essex.

• Harwich - A treadwheel crane dating from 1667 is preserved on Harwich Green.

Gloucestershire.

• Bristol - a treadwheel crane at the docks was known as "Padmore's Great Crane."

Hampshire.

• Beauworth - Inside the Fox and Hounds public house is a treadwheel used to raise water.
• Catherington - a treadwheel from Kinches Farm (grid ref SU 693 140) is preserved at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum Singleton' Sussex. It was used to raise water form a well 300' deep.
• Dummer - a treadwheel used to raise water from a well. Built in 1879 it stood at grid ref SU 589 461.
• Horndean - a treadwheel.
• Upham - a treadwheel.

Huntingdonshire.

• Huntingdon - A treadwheel was in use at the Prison to pump water in 1831.

Kent.

• Burham - a treadwheel from Great Culand Farm is preserved in Maidstone Museum.
• Canterbury - a treadwheel was used in Canterbury Cathedral to power a hoist for raising building materials in the construction of the Bell Harry tower. It is extant.

Lancashire.

• Liverpool - a treadmill was installed in the gaol by Sir William Cubitt.

Lincolnshire.

• Louth - a treadwheel was in use in the House of Correction in 1788.

London.

• Brixton Prison - housed a treadmill from 1821 to the 1840s.
• City Bridewell - a treadwheel was in use as early as 1570. The Bridewell was demolished in 1863.
• Coldbath Fields Prison, Clerkenwell - housed a treadmill until at least 1884. This was used to grind grain and pump water. It was installed by Sir William Cubitt. An illustration appeared in the Illustrated London News, 4 July 1874.
• Tothill Fields Bridewell
• The Museum of London has a reconstruction of a Roman "Water Engine."
• A treadwheel crane was illustrated in the painting "A Quay on the Thames" by the artist Samuel Scott. It is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The scene has been recreated in the Museum in Docklands.

Norfolk.

• Norwich - a treadmill was built in the old Norwich Gaol by millwright Thomas Smithdale in 1875 at a cost of £273.10s.0d, replacing an earlier one burnt down in 1874. (Norfolk Chronicle, 24 April 1875).
• Swaffham - a treadmill was installed in the gaol by Sir William Cubitt.

Oxfordshire.

• Oxford - There was a treadwheel in the Castle, which was used as a prison. The building that house it is extant.

Staffordshire.

• Stafford - a corn mill was built in the 1860s, powered by a treadwheel.

Suffolk

• Bury St. Edmunds - a treadmill was installed in the gaol by Sir William Cubitt in 1819.

Surrey.

• Guildford - a treadwheel crane dating from the late C17th is preserved at NGR SU 994 494.

Sussex.

• Lewes - a treadmill was installed in the House of Correction. It was in use in 1835 and had Mance's ergometer.
• Petworth - a treadmill was installed in the Prison. It had an ergometer designed by a Mr. Mance, who was employed at the prison.

Warwickshire.

• Warwick - a treadmill was used in the Gaol. It was in use in 1848.

Westmorland.

• Appleby - a treadmill was used in the County Jail until it closed in 1879.

Wiltshire.

• Salisbury - a treadwheel was used in the Cathedral to raise building materials. It dates from the C14th and is extant.

Worcestershire.

• Worcester - a treadmill was installed in the gaol by Sir William Cubitt.

Yorkshire.

• Beverley - a treadwheel was used in the Minster to raise building materials. It is extant.
• Driffield - a treadwheel was used to raise water from a well at Burton Agnes Hall. It is extant.
• Ripon - the Gaol, later a police station and now a museum, housed a treadwheel.

Scotland

Argyllshire.

• Inveraray - a treadmill was used in the gaol;, now a museum.

Wales

Anglesey.

• Beaumaris - a treadmill is preserved in the gaol (built 1829). It was used to pump water and is the only one in existence inside a prison in the UK.

Carmarthenshire.

• Carmarthen - a treadmill was erected in the County Gaol in 1832.

Australia

Queensland

• Brisbane

The Old Windmill at Wickham Park, Spring Hill, Brisbane was originally powered by a treadmill when built in 1824.

France

Treigny, Yonne

Treadwheel crane at Guédelon

• A reconstruction of a treadwheel crane can be seen in action at the medieval construction site at Guédelon. The object of the project is to build a fortress castle using 13th century materials and techniques. The treadwheel crane is used to lift mortar, ashlar blocks, rubble, and wood in the building of this unique castle. It can lift up to 500 kg of building materials. A non - period wooden braking device was designed, built, and added to the treadwheel crane by the on site carpenters at Guédelon for safety reasons.

Germany

Treadwheel crane, Lüneberg

• A treadwheel crane is preserved at Lüneberg.

United States

Menard County, Illinois

• New Salem, Illinois - an ox-powered treadmill operating a double carding machine (full scale replica).

Cited references

Further reading

• Animal-powered Machines, J. Kenneth Major. Shire Album 128. Shire Publications, 1985. ISBN 0-85263-710-1

See also

• Horse mill
• List of historical harbour cranes
• Treadwheel crane