#21: Treadmills Were Originally Designed as Torture Devices
Treadmills actually have a history that goes back thousands of years, often used to help power all sorts of machinery and technology, as their purpose was to work things before electricity was invented. It helped lift buckets of water, was used in the creation of rotary grain mills, and saw use for many other inventions over time.
However, it took a dark turn in 1818 when it was proposed to be used as a punishment for criminals in prison. It was a harsh sentence, and there are records of some prisoners dying of exhaustion. It wouldn’t come into use as an exercise device until over a hundred years later, in 1913, and the electric version as we know it was invented in 1952.