Disturbing History: Dogs Were Once Used to Power Kitchen Devices
Posted in: UncategorizedIt is astonishing to think that prior to the Industrial Revolution, most power on Earth came directly from either man or animal. You had a few exceptions—river dwellers figured out waterwheels, and the Dutch had their windmills—but for most of us, if you wanted to power something into motion you attached it to an ox, a horse or maybe a broad-shouldered guy named Jeff. And a recent NPR broadcast has drawn lots of ears by highlighting a forgotten animal-powered contraption from the UK: A rotating spit driven by a dog forced to run inside a large hamster-wheel, and motivated to move by a piece of burning coal.
Referred to in the broadcast as “an essential part of every large kitchen in Britain in the 16th century,” this Turnspit dog and possible Welsh Corgi relative was specially bred to fit inside the running wheel. An 1858 British book called Anecdotes of Dogs describes them as “long-bodied, crooked-legged and ugly dogs, with a suspicious, unhappy look about them.” The wheel that they ran inside was attached to a spit holding a piece of meat over the fire. Says NPR:
When any meat was to be roasted, one of these dogs was hoisted into a wooden wheel mounted on the wall near the fireplace. The wheel was attached to a chain, which ran down to the spit. As the dog ran, like a hamster in a cage, the spit turned.
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