The Everlasting Staircase

The treadmill, also (rarely) called Colonel Chesterton's everlasting staircase after its inventor, was introduced by England's Prison Discipline Society. Developed in the early 1820s, it was designed to exhaust and demoralise difficult inmates, and to encourage repentance and the 'abandonment of vicious pursuits'. Its presence in prisons was also to inspire dread of punishment by prospective criminals. Use of the treadmill was abandoned around 1900 after it was concluded to cause grevious injuries and to inflict psychological trauma on the victim. Ironically, most modern gyms now contain treadmills (running machines or Stairmasters), the use of which is paid for by large subscriptions.