Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1822-12-07
October, 1922.
From the Western Monitor.
THE TREAD MILL.

While our legislature are celebrating
on the very interesting subjeci OF the
Penitentiary suggested to them by the
Governors Message, it may rot be in
sxpedient to invite their attention TO an
invention recently made in England,
which is said 10 have been already pro-
ductivc Of the happiest fleets in inprov-
lag prison discipline, and preventing the
commission Of crime. A wheel has
been contrivcd capable of giving steady
and adequate employment to any nam
Der Of convicis, and so connected with
other machinery AS To render their labor
eminen,ly productive. When once he
any prisoner TO avoid the perfor.,- ance Il
his part OF the labor, which is stiff lent
ly heavy 10 be felt as severe punish
ment If this machinery were intro
duced into our peni'enlisry, it would
cease to be considered as comfortable
asylum from: royer,y and care, and the
pnprincipled vim are nov anxious to be
con, icted Of crime in order to procure a
residence there, would submit TO airy
other toll a privstion rather than 70 he
subjected to its salulary discipline. The
following extract viii afford some IDEA
of its peculiar nature and advantages,
and may serve at least to ORA" publ, at
tention to contrivsnce, which is nn-
doubleday destined TO be very generally
adopted in places of public confinement
and which will probably constitute one
Of the most important Improvements in
the penal system of governments.
"By means Of steps, the gang Of pri-
soners ascend at one end, and when the
requisite number range themselves up
ON the wheel, i, commences its revolu-
ton. The effort, then, to every indr
vidual, is simply tina, Of ascending an
endless fligh, Of steps, their combined
weight acting upon every successive
stepping board, precisely as a stream Of
water upon the noat boards Of a water
wheel
During this operation, each prisoner
gradually advances from the end at
which he mounted, towards the opposite
end of the wheel, ill the last man taking
ito tuIUy 0CSCtlAlo toI IESty prs
soner Immediately mounting as before to
fill up the number required, without
stopping the machine. The interv al OF
rest may then be por,ioned to each man,
by regulating the number of those re-
quired to work the wheel, with the whole
number Of The gang ;--thus, if,wen,y
out of ,w cnty-four are obliged to be up
on the wheel, it will give to each man
intervals ofrest amounting to twelve mi
nutes in every hour Of labor. Again, by
varying the number of men upon the
wheel, or the work inside the mill, SO az
to increase or diminish its velocity, the
degree OF hard labor or exercise to the
prisoner may also be regulated.
Al Brix,on, the diameter Of the wheel
being feet, and revolving twice in
minuic, the space stepped over by each
man is 2l9s feet, or 73i yards per hour,
10 provide regular and suitable en-
ployment FOR prisoners sentenced to hard
labor, has been attended with consider
able difficulty in many parts of the king
dom |; The invention OF the Discipline
Mill has removed the difficulty, and ii
is confidently hoped, that as its advanta-
|ges and effects become better kno wn, the
introduction Of the mill will be unver-
sal in Houses OF Correction. As spec
cies OF prison labor, it is remarkable for
its simplicity. 1t requires no previous
instruction; no taskmssser is necessary
TO watch over the work Of the prisoner,
neither are materials or Instruments put
into their hands that are liable to waste or
n4isapplication, or subject to wear and
tear: the internal machinery OF the mill,
nlacsd uIder the management % sSilItf