Upon re-reading A Christmas Carol recently, a sentence jumped out at me to drag me down a rabbit hole. “The Treadmill and Poor Law are in full vigour, then?”, says Scrooge to men collecting charity for the poor. I couldn’t help but wonder whether he was referring to the same treadmills we have now.
Turns out, he is referring to the original treadmill- poor people could simply go to the treadmill. Invented in 1818 by William Cubitt, they were used across prisons in Europe and USA until 1898. Apparently, the prisoners were deemed to be too idle, so to make them more productive and repentant, these treadmills were installed. The early treadmills were actually tread-wheels as they were large, cylindrical wheels with slatted spokes that were used as steps. Prisoners held on to a rail, hung on for dear life under the watchful gaze of guards, and stepped on and on… for 6 to 10 hours a day. As if this weren’t tough enough, they were not allowed to chat to each other much, or take many breaks, or eat well. Obviously, several injuries followed, though some records insist that there were no injuries in their particular prisons. The labor used pumped water, crushed grain, or created energy (much like other mills), etc., making these tread-wheels important contributors to the industrialisation of Europe. They were finally considered to be too cruel after nearly a century, only to be replaced by other laborious tasks, such as construction work.
Nearly another century passes before modern treadmills become popular in the 1970s. The design changed as the steps were replaced by a smooth conveyor belt, though step machines also popped up in the same decade as the fitness wave took over in the USA.
As we’ve stepped into (ignore the pun) a new year, perhaps you’ve made a resolution to hit the gym more often. As punishing as you might find your work-out to be, I hope it gives you some relief to know exactly how much worse it really was.
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