> Most likely the reason it remained a toy, rather than being put to productive use, was the abundance of slave labor. This is something that get said a lot, b

> Most likely the reason it remained a toy, rather than being put to productive use, was the abundance of slave labor. This is something that get said a lot, but it misses technological and socio-ebergetic factors as well: 1. at that time metallurgy was very rudimentary, compared to how it was in the late 18th century. Most they wouldn't have been able to craft an efficient steam machine back then even if they tried very hard. 2. They also didn't use coal (I don't even know I'd they knew it), which makes fuel (wood) really expensive and also removes the self-reinforcing retroaction where you can use the steam machine to mine more coal and really contributed to the exponential nature of the industrial revolution.