Horsepower punk

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Apparently horse powered ferries were quite common in the early 19th century. At first they used treadwheels, but when treadmills were adapted to horses in the late 1820s this form of transportation really took off. It's said horse ferrys were used in New York until 1920. The treadmill was also adopted to threshers, saws, and pumps. Notably these came about during and not withstanding the Age of Steam due to their simplicity and economy.

It seems the technology should be doable centuries earlier. Paddle wheel ships were known to the Romans and Chinese. There were some very sophisticated machines illustrated by Al-Jazari for instance which featured mechanical concepts like double action pumps, cams, crankshafts, etc that were not re-invented until the 19th century. All of these used the treadwheel, but this had the disadvantage of making horses dizzy and the machinery taking up too much room. Combine these early machines with the horse powered treadmill and it should be very interesting.
 
all you need is a society whose economy needs concentrated mass use of horsepower, but whose technological level does not allow the development of efficient engines with enough power, so animal power is used instead
just change the socioeconomic reality of pre-industrial Europe, a more developed high-Gothic, or a different Baroque, or no Reformation, for instance

or just get someone to think up a way to use animal powered treadmills without making the animals dizzy

such machinery was more popular than youd think, who do you think powered coal mine drainage pumps before the steam engine, or who people used to rotate frying lamb-on-a-spit

its not that this was not in mass use because people couldnt think it up, its just they didnt feel the need, probably

another forgotten "workhorse" of pre-industrial economy is definitely the donkey
if you look at it from the cost-benefit perspective, given you have enough time and patience with the stubborn long eared bastards, they basically beat motorized transport, in all but time-efficiency, as obviously trucks go faster
other than that they, and some other work animals, such as certain kinds of ox, almost give a greater output than the required energy input, more efficient than motorized road transport of equivalent tonnage, only railroad and waterway transport are as good or better

meaning, theoretically, and hypothetically, you could have a kind of industrial revolution, if all conditions are met, basically powered by grass, hay, and some hidropower
youd still need a lot of cut grass and hay, and it would move at horse cart speeds, but it could work, and most importantly, coal is not an issue, all that is necessary is land water and wood, and horses obviously, altho sheep dogs, donkeys and ox would also come in handy

the technology and power source is newer the real issue, the socio-economic aspects are way more important
 
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I found this in a farm museum here... it's a treadmill that a dog could run on, and the drive train could run a mechanical churn or spinning wheel or something.

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