On: Why No Roman Industrial Revolution? (2022)

[JumpCrisscross]

> Neither requires smooth rotation

Neither is in an environment "where fuel is extremely cheap so that the inefficiency of the engine didn’t make it a worse option than simply having a whole bunch of burly fellows (or draft animals) do the job."

[WalterBright → JumpCrisscross]

A smith already has a lot of fuel being used. Plenty of waste heat, too.

[JumpCrisscross → WalterBright]

> smith already has a lot of fuel being used

Plenty of fuel doesn't mean cheap fuel. The waste heat is more interesting, though I'm not sure any early engine designs could have done anything useful to a smith with it.