Livestock Treadmill

Veterinary Horse Exercise Treadmill

Sometimes a horse treadmill is used at a veterinary clinic to exercise and strengthen horses which are recovering from illness or injury. A treadmill can also be used to keep horses healthy during the winter when they may have little exercise. Combining a treadmill with energy generation is dual purpose in keeping animals healthy and in accomplishing a wide variety of work.

Amish Horse Treadmills

The images above show how a treadmill can be run by horses. The lower images show how a crank type jack is used to lift the front of the treadmill to create an inclined grade. The horses climb the grade as they walk and this rotates a conveyor belt made of lumber. A PTO shaft under the treadmill can transfer torque energy to a wide variety of equipment.

Washing machine run by horse treadmill

The left side of the image above shows a hydraulic pump attached directly to the side of the treadmill. The pump is turned by the mechanical action of the treadmill. There is a reservoir for hydraulic oil hanging above the pump which supplies oil to the pump. The upper right-hand side of this image shows the hydraulic hoses which are connected to a hydraulic motor installed under a washing machine. This causes the agitator in the machine to rotate during clothing washing. One line carries oil to the hydraulic motor then a return line brings the oil back to the pump to continue the cycle again.

Power hacksaw run by horse treadmill

In the image above there is a hydraulic pump placed on the ground that is run by a PTO shaft from the treadmill. Hydraulic lines run from the pump to a hydraulic motor mounted on a power metal band saw. This enables the operation the band saw without an electric motor or need for electricity.

Water pump run by horse treadmill

In the image above, a PTO shaft is connected to a water pump. The treadmill provides the mechanical power to rotate the pump to move water.

Dual-Horse treadmill for grinder

In the image above a dual-horse treadmill is used to turn a PTO shaft powering a grinder. A series of pulleys are used to rotate a grinder which grinds whole grain wheat kernels into flour.

The horse treadmill has been used to do numerous things:

1. Drive a washing machine with shaft or hydraulic power.

2. Drive a refrigerator.

3. Drive a flour and cornmeal grinder.

4. Spilt wood with a hydraulic splitter.

5. Sharpen band saw blades.

6. Pump water for irrigation or domestic purposes.

7. Drive a hay bale elevator.

8. Pump air into a compression tank for pneumatic drive tools

9. Charge batteries

10. Churn ice cream and just about any application that can be imagined.

See the video link called “Horse Treadmill” for more details.

Series of multiple horse treadmills

The image above represents a horse standing among multiple horse-treadmills that operate a single driveshaft. The box on the left in the image represents a hydraulic pump that can send pressurized oil to various hydraulic motors via hydraulic hoses.

Horse Treadmills Used for Air Compress and Cable Winder

In the image above, the object on the left represents a series of horse treadmills connected to a single shaft that runs a hydraulic pump. The structure seen on the right side of this image represents some plant growth tunnels supported by concrete panels. On top of these panels is located a water reservoir. Water is lifted out of a cistern into the reservoir using both a winch and air compressor.

Hydraulic pump run by horse treadmills

In the image above the black lines represents hydraulic lines which run from the hydraulic oil pump (connected to the horse treadmill) to both the winch and the compressor. The winch and air compressor are both operated by hydraulic motors run by a hydraulic pump which is turned by the horse treadmills.

When water is lifted into the reservoir by the winch and air compressor it will be fed through a series of hydroelectric generators. Every time water falls from one level to the next lower level it will generate electric current. This electric current is used to run LED plant growth lights for growing plants underground in the tunnels.

By adding a number of horse treadmills in a series we can gain increased torque to run numerous hydraulic pumps to run a battery of hydraulic motors to lift water from a series of cisterns. All water that is lifted to a higher level has the potential to do work as gravity flow water can turn hydroelectric generators to produce electricity.

See the link called “Water-lift System” for more details.

Self-Sufficient Off-Grid Energy

The horse treadmill is an example of how we can live off the grid system and create the energy that we need to run hydraulic motors, and pneumatic tools, and water pumps and run just about any type of machine that we need. We can use horse and mechanical power to produce various types of energy to run our self-sufficient system without the use of petroleum fuels.