The provisions for the fortress are brought in up an inclined plane, and raised by means of a tread-wheel, formerly worked by the prisoners.    From Wordnik.com.  [Brittany & Its Byways] Reference

The scheme was singularly adventurous, but the die was cast; he was in the position of the man on the tread-wheel, and felt that he must write or perish.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume II. The Songs of Scotland of the past half century] Reference

On the towers of the four prison wings there are reservoirs for containing water, which is thrown up by a pump worked by the prisoners at the tread-wheel, whenever water is required, and by means of lead pipes, it is then conveyed to every part of the prison.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 271, September 1, 1827] Reference

Transportation, the tread-wheel, or a public whipping, would perhaps be sufficient.    From Wordnik.com.  [Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds] Reference

The tread-wheel had been the mode in his time; so by the time he had made three thousand turns he was rather exhausted.    From Wordnik.com.  [It Is Never Too Late to Mend] Reference

He proposed that the tread-wheel should measure the progress of the culprit, and that every revolution should bring him nearer to liberty.    From Wordnik.com.  [The History of Tasmania , Volume II] Reference

When I went to Maysville to school, in 1836, at the age of fourteen, I recognized my colt as one of the blind horses working on the tread-wheel of the ferry-boat.    From Wordnik.com.  [Personal Memoirs of General U. S. Grant — Complete] Reference

To drill twelve hundred scoundrels by "the method of kindness," and of abolishing your very tread-wheel, -- how could any commander rejoice to have such a work cut out for him?.    From Wordnik.com.  [Latter-Day Pamphlets] Reference

The tread-wheel is usually worked by two men or women, who steady themselves by holding to a cross-bar, while their weight revolves the tread-wheel and works a chain of water-pockets.    From Wordnik.com.  [Around the World on a Bicycle - Volume II From Teheran To Yokohama] Reference

"They cared for nothing but the tread-wheel, and for having their rations cut short:" of the two sole penalties, hard work and occasional hunger, there remained now only one, and that by no means the better one, as he thought.    From Wordnik.com.  [Latter-Day Pamphlets] Reference

The Visiting Magistrates, he gently regretted rather than complained, had lately taken his tread-wheel from him, men were just now pulling it down; and how he was henceforth to enforce discipline on these bad subjects, was much a difficulty with him.    From Wordnik.com.  [Latter-Day Pamphlets] Reference

A pointer has pleasure in finding game, the terrier worries rats with considerable glee, the greyhound pursues hares with eagerness and delight, and the bull-dog even attacks bulls with the greatest energy, while the poor turnspit performs his task by compulsion, like a culprit on a tread-wheel, subject to scolding or beating if he stops a moment to rest his weary limbs, and is then kicked about the kitchen when the task is over.    From Wordnik.com.  [Anecdotes of Dogs] Reference