The impact of Watt’s success at creating a steam engine that delivered rotary power at relatively high speeds cannot be overstated. It liberated European society from its age-old dependence on water wheels—which could only be placed in favorable locations where a reliable source of falling water could be harnessed—as well as on windmills, which were dependent on the unpredictable coming and going of favorable winds. For the first time, a source of rotary power could be located wherever it was most advantageous.
