[Turnipgreens]

So I am totally new to this site, but I am a huge fan of alt-tech, things like solar ovens, plastic composting, etc. But one thing I find of particular interest was the use of animals in sustainable, industrial practices.

We typically think of animals’ usefulness primarily in connection with agriculture, this field being at the crossroads of what is ‘natural’ and ‘civil.’

But there are plenty of examples of animals working as part of the manufacturing process. This came in the form of supplanting wind, water, and combustion power.

Persian wells may provide the simplest example, with oxen walking in a carousel fashion to turn shafts and gears connected to a large wheel with buckets on its rim. As the wheel turns, the buckets are submerged in the large water pit and drawn back up to the surface.

Rudimentary? Perhaps. Genius? Absolutely! Because the water is drawn by a comparatively thin wheel as opposed to crowds of people, the water pit can be smaller than a step well, meaning the water is less open to wind-borne contaminants, and maybe less exposed to direct sunlight, reducing evaporation.

The carousel-style of animal engines has been applied to a variety of machines from threshers and balers to grist mills and refinery bellows.

The carousel, however, was not the only design.

There were also treadmills, yes, tread-mills. Mechanical tracks that indirectly transferred the animals’ motion to gears, shafts, and belts.

As crazy as this sounds, I even found a British dog breed called the turn spit which was put into a wall mounted wheel like a hamster and which ran to turn meat on a spit in the fireplace.

This brings me to my conclusion. The first world needs to reawaken to the potential of animal power. We need to rehabilitate livestock and bring about a third industrial revolution centered on muscle provided by the abundance of beasts made possible through advances in husbandry.

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