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 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 (a treadmill), or by a human standing inside it.

Uses of treadwheels included raising water, to power cranes, or grind grain. They were also used in prisons as a form of punishment. 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

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 - Britain's only surviving 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'', 4th 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, 24th 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 .

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 Jail , now a museum.

Wales .

Anglesey .

Beaumaris - a treadmill is preserved in the Gaol (built 1829). It was used to pump water and in 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 Windmill at Wickham Park, Spring Hill, Brisbane was originally powered by a treadmill when built in 1828.

United States

Menard County, Illinois

New Salem, Illinois - an ox-powered treadmill operating a Double Carding Machine (full scale replica).

BOOKS

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

	APPAREL
	BABY
	BEAUTY
	BOOKS
	CAR TOYS
	CELL PHONES
	DVD'S
	ELECTRONICS
	GOURMET FOOD
	GROCERIES
	HEALTH & PERSONAL
	HOME & GARDEN
	JEWELRY
	MUSIC
	MUSIC INSTRUMENTS
	OFFICE PRODUCTS
	SOFTWARE
	SPORTING GOODS
	TOOLS & HARDWARE
	TOYS
	VIDEO GAMES
	SHOPPING HOME

	MORE SHOPPING...

	CATEGORIES ABOUT TREADWHEEL

	grinding mills

Information About

Treadwheel