1881 "Enterprise" Dog Powered Treadmill

Here is a short video of my family training our Australian Shepherd puppy to walk on our antique dog treadmill. This machine was made in 1881 and it was built to use dog, goat, or sheep power to operate a butter churn or other small farm implement. The slope of the track is adjustable and in this video is set at the second flattest slope. There is no load on the machine and the puppy is barely heavy enough to make it turn. He doesn't seem to mind the noise from the tracks, and he loves the snacks he gets as rewards. He will soon be part of the demonstration that we take to antique machinery shows.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• dog
• power
• treadmill
• treadle
• butter
• churn
• antique
• wood
• wooden

[ibey26]

Is this mill an 1881 replica or genuine antique. In any event very cool mill. How about make another one that displays close up of the mills craftsmanship. Thanks

[dkrenshaw]

@ibey26 This is a genuine antique that we restored. There is a photo of one exactly like ours on Wikipedia under the entry "treadle." I've seen 3 others like ours, one in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, another in a farm museum in Easton, MD, and another was sold at an auction in North, VA.

[BlakeMason2]

I think it should be hooked to an alternator and put little kids on it to play on the internet. No exercise, no chat. HAHAHAHAH Maybe make it charge a cell phone ;)

[jakebarnes28]

Great stuff! Thanks for showing it. I saw a horse powered grain thresher on YouTube too. You may already know of this person's organization, but here tis anyway - Tiller's International in Scott Michigan. He specializes in introducing 18th and 19th century technology to the 3rd world. Stuff they have the wherewithal to utilize without being capital intensive.

[jollypit]

COMPLIMENTI,UN PEZZO DI STORIA ;0))

[1crazyfocker]

I am wanting to make one based on that design but i have looked up treads for a while now, and can never get any good large or close up pictures, from all sides. is there any way you could take a bounch of pictures and post them or e-mail them for me. please say yes

thanks

[magnusscott]

Awesome!! Could we see the mechanism that makes this work? I want to build one for my jack russel terriers. Thanks!!