The Gymnasticon was an early exercise machine resembling a stationary bicycle, invented in 1796 by Francis Lowndes. In his patent, Lowndes described the machine as intended simply to give and apply motion and exercise, voluntary or involuntary, to the limbs, joints, and muscles of the human body. The Gymnasticon depended on a set of flywheels that connected the wooden treadles for the feet to cranks for the hands, which could drive each other or operate independently.
Gymnasticon Exercise Machine
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