Treadmill
Rather than the user powering a mill, the device provides a moving platform with a wide conveyor belt driven by an electric motor or a flywheel.
The simpler, lighter, and less expensive versions passively resist the motion, moving only when walkers push the belt with their feet.
Cooper's book noted that individuals who ran for eight minutes four to five times a week would be in better physical condition.
Once finished, Staub sent his prototype treadmill to Cooper, who found the machine's first customers, including sellers of fitness equipment.
It rotated around a vertical axis, driven by an ox or other animal walking in a circle and pushing the bar.
Treadmills for punishment were introduced in 1818 by an English engineer named Sir William Cubitt, who was the son of a miller.
[6] Cubitt's treadmills for punishment usually rotated around a horizontal axis, requiring the user to step upwards, like walking up an endless staircase.
[7] Punishment treadmills remained in use until the second half of the 19th century; they were typically twenty-foot (0,6 m) long paddle wheels with twenty-four steps around a six-foot (1,82 m) cylinder.
Several prisoners stood side-by-side on a wheel and had to work six or more hours a day, effectively climbing 5,000 to 14,000 vertical feet (1500 to 4000 m).
[10] The forerunner of the exercise treadmill was designed to diagnose heart and lung diseases, and was invented by Robert Bruce and Wayne Quinton at the University of Washington in 1952.
Among users of treadmills today are medical facilities (hospitals, rehabilitation centers, medical and physiotherapy clinics, institutes of higher education), sports clubs, biomechanics institutes, orthopedic shoe shops, running shops, Olympic training centers, universities, fire-training centers, NASA, test facilities, police forces and armies, gyms and even home users.
The subject does not change their horizontal position and is passively moved and forced to catch up with the running belt underneath their feet.
So the treadmill is delivering mechanical energy to the human body based on the vital function (heart rate) of the subject.
This fall-stop device usually takes the form of a safety arch to which a line is attached to an electrical switch.
Oversized treadmills are also used for cycling at speeds up to 80 km/h (50 mph), for wheelchair users and in special applications with sturdy running belts for cross-country skiing and biathlon, where athletes perform training and testing exercises with roller skis on a running deck of up to 450 cm × 300 cm (180 in × 120 in).
Many veterinary and animal rehabilitation clinics also offer underwater treadmill therapy as part of their services provided to clients' pets.
Several solutions have been proposed, but research continues as some issues remain unsolved, such as large size, noise and vibration.
Parallel developments are being conducted by researchers working on projects sponsored by the US Department of Veterans Affairs to create virtual reality environments for a wheelchair trainer to promote therapeutic exercise.
