>The Victorian "crank machine" was a device used in 19th century British prisons as a form of hard and pointless penal labor.

The crank machine was a penal labour device used in England in the 19th century. It consisted of a hand-turned crank which forced four large cups or ladles through sand inside a drum, doing nothing useful.

>The prisoner would typically be forced to do 6,000 to 14,400 revolutions over the period of six hours per day (1.5 to 3.6 seconds per revolution). The prison warden could make the task harder by tightening an adjusting screw.