2-691-367 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Prisoners Working on the Treadmill', c1934. Illustration showing the 19th century method of forcing 'idle' prisoners to take exercise. The accompanying text explains the mechanism, and says that it was 'all useless labour and served no purpose...Attempts were made to utilise this labour for profitable purposes, but nothing came of the idea'. Initially the treadmill fact was intended to be pointless and punish; resistance to the motion was provided by straps and weights. However it later became acceptable to use the energy to power pumps and corn mills, and many prisons in England adopted this form of hard labour to grind grain. Treadmills were abolished in 1902. From The Romance of the Nation, Volume Two, edited by Charles Ray. [The Amalgamated Press, Ltd., London, c1934]