Treadmills are regular fitness equipment for homes and gyms, but did you know? The initial use of the treadmill was actually a torture device for prisoners, which was invented by the British.
Time goes back to the beginning of the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution emerged. At the same time, the crime rate in British society remained high. How to do ? The simplest and most direct way is to sentence the prisoner to a heavy sentence.
While the crime rate remains high, more and more prisoners are being admitted to prison, and prisoners must be managed once they enter the prison. But how to manage so many prisoners? After all, the prison guards who manage prisoners are limited. On the one hand, the government has to feed the prisoners, provide them with food, drink, and sleep. On the other hand, they also need to manage and maintain the prison equipment. The government finds it difficult to solve.
After so many prisoners ate and drank enough, they were full of energy and had nowhere to vent, so they waited on the other prisoners with their fists and feet. The prison guards are also laborious to manage these thorns. If they are loosened, they may cause casualties to other prisoners; if they are tightened, they will be tired and panic. Therefore, for the government, on the one hand, it must reduce the crime rate, and on the other hand, it must consume the energy of prisoners so that they have no extra energy to fight.
The traditional method is that the prison organizes mortals to work, thus consuming their physical strength. However, in 1818, a man named William Kubitt invented a torture device called treadmill, which was translated into Chinese as “treadmill.” In fact, the “treadmill” has been invented long ago, but it is not a person who exercises on it, but a horse. The purpose of this is to use the power of the horse to grind various materials.
On the basis of the original, William Cooper replaced the coolie horses with the criminals who made mistakes to punish the criminals, and at the same time achieved the effect of grinding materials, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone. After the prison put this torture instrument into use, it was found to be quite useful. Prisoners run on it for at least 6 hours a day to push the wheels to pump water or toss. On the one hand, the prisoners are punished, on the other hand, the prison can also obtain economic benefits, which is really great. Prisoners who have exhausted their physical strength have no energy to do things anymore. After seeing this miraculous effect, other countries have introduced British “treadmills.”
But afterwards, the prisoners were tortured every day, it was too boring and boring, it was better to work and blow the air. In addition, some criminals suffer from excessive physical exhaustion and fall injuries afterwards. With the advent of the steam age, “treadmill” has clearly become synonymous with backwardness. Therefore, in 1898, the British government announced that it would prohibit the use of “treadmills” to torture prisoners.
The British gave up the “treadmill” to punish prisoners, but they did not expect that savvy Americans would later register it as a sports equipment patent. In 1922, the first practical fitness treadmill was officially put on the market. Till today, treadmills have increasingly become an artifact of home fitness for fitness men and women.
Post time: Sep-22-2021