Description of the tread mill, for the employment of prisoners : with observations on its management, accompanied by a plate and description of a new instrument, by which the daily amount of individual labour may be determined by inspection, and regulated with uniformity and precision / published by the committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, &c.

  • Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and for the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders (London, England)
Date:
1823
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Description of the tread mill, for the employment of prisoners : with observations on its management, accompanied by a plate and description of a new instrument, by which the daily amount of individual labour may be determined by inspection, and regulated with uniformity and precision / published by the committee of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    *> rail is fixed upon this screen, by holding which they retain their upright position upon the revolving wheel; * the nearest end is exposed to view in the Plate, in order to represent its cylindrical form much more distinctly than could otherwise have been done. In the original, however, both ends are closely boarded up, so that the prisoners have no access to the interior of the wheel, and all risk of injury is prevented. A light shed protects the prisoners as well in wet weather, as from the heat of the sun in summer j and it is so constructed as not to in- terfere with the Governor’s view of the prisoners, nor to lessen the security of the yards. The Tread-wheel is set to work in the following manner. The party of prisoners ascend at one end by means of steps, and when the requisite number are ranged upon the Wheel, it com- mences its revolution. The effort, then, to each individual of the party, is simply that of ascending an endless flight of steps, the combined weight of the prisoners acting upon every successive stepping-board, precisely as a stream of water upon the float- boards of a water-wheel. This operation is maintained without intermission during the hours of labour, by the appointment of a certain portion of the class to relieve the party on the wheel. These changes are performed at regular intervals determined by signal, when tire prisoner at one end of the wheel descends for rest, another at the same moment ascends at the opposite ex- tremity of the wheel, as represented in the frontispiece, f By this method, the proper number of men on the wheel is con- * It was discovered, in one recent instance, that in consequence of the hand-rail projecting too forward, the prisoners had the means of leaning or resting upon it; by which loss of weight, the working of the wheel was checked, and the labour to the prisoners became much lightened. To obviate this, it was found necessary to have the hand-rail made sufficiently narrow, and so fixed upon the screen of boards in front of the prisoners, as fully to afford them the means of supporting themselves upon the wheel, but without allowing them the means of evading the labour. + At the Bridewell, in Edinburgh, these changes are announced by means of a bell attached to the machinery; the bell is capable of being set so as to give the signal at intervals of any length that may be desired.