However, there is some positive light. Later usage of the tread wheel would find itself beneficial in the agricultural sector. In the 16th century, farmers globally were using animals to power tread wheels. Animal-operated tread wheels performed tasks like churning and grinding, according to American Artifacts. Horses were preferred due to their size and strength, but dogs, sheep, and goats were utilized to power smaller wheels.
Into the 19th century, the wheel would go back to a human-powered operation — but it was not for constructing purposes. British engineer Sir William Cubitt introduced the wheel into prisons. It was there that a new and brutal use of the machine found a home. Prisoners were forced to power a continuously moving wheel, called an everlasting staircase. They either operated the wheel for the sake of punishment or to perform labor tasks, according to Life Fitness. Due to criticism, penal use of the wheel was later outlawed in the British Prisons Act of 1898.
