In prison of the 19th century there was a Ladder Cubitt, the ancestor of modern simulators

Can't explain the dislike for sports? Maybe in past lives you have experienced the torture of fitness! In the late 19th century in Victorian prisons have a device that has become a real punishment for the then inmates. They were forced to go nowhere, at the same time benefiting the community.

Prison of the XIX century on fleet street in London. Looks more like a cheap resort.

One warm Sunny day, 1818, little known and not very successful English inventor William Cubitt had the pleasure to visit the prison in the town of Bury Saint Edmunds. What was he doing there — is unknown, but he was able to observe the behavior of those who were imprisoned here in their natural habitat.

Sir William Cubitt (9 Oct 1785 — 13 October 1861)

In no time William corrected this misunderstanding and in the same 1818, granted to several of the British prisons its most famous invention — the "step mill". Now we know his discovery as "the treadmill" (treadmill or a treadwheel), but then it was some other device.

No, Mr. Cubitt did not want to torture and torment "inmates" but as a well educated gentleman, preached a fix through work: he invented the treadmill, with the aim, for example, grinding grains, not thinking that this machine can be used as a means of punishment. But good intentions pave the road, and not cross-country, know where.÷

Design, had to turn couch potatoes out of prison, sitting on the necks of honest taxpayers, productive members of British society. To correct erring minds and vicious heart was planned with six-foot wheels from 24 blades, who played the part of the steps. A group of prisoners had to spin it, hand in hand walking in the endless imaginary mountain.

Within a couple of years of torturous mechanisms Cubitt equipped with 40 prisons in the UK. How many of them were in the world — is unknown, but in the colonies, such as Jamaica, they existed for sure.

But with time came the expression "to dance on the step mill", which meant to serve his sentence in prison. The ENCYCLOPAEDIA Britannica describes in General the typical norm as 16 630 ft (5069 meters, that is more than half the height of Everest) that had to "pass" for 6-10 hours. Given that the convicts were given rest, the work was hellish and incredibly exhausting.

One of those who "danced" on the "step mill" was the famous writer Oscar Wild. Six months from two years the writer spent in daily "climbs" the stairs leading nowhere. However, in 1902 the use of a "stepper mills" recognized absolutely inhumane punishment of criminals and canceled.

After just 11 years were invented by Claude Hagen "training machine", which is an improved "endless stairs".