Steam-engine time

[ffutures]

One of those silly questions - who actually invented the saying about "steam engine time", and when exactly was that time - I'm assuming the late 18th / early 19th century but is there a generally agreed date?

Later

Never mind, it was apparently Charles Fort, and he wasn't making quite the argument I thought he was.

Any suggestions for an alternative "invented simultaneously in two or three places" gizmo of the 19th century?

Comments

[doctor-toc.livejournal.com]

The lightbulb? Radio? Cinema?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Yes to all three, and I have two of the three as examples in my text already but I was hoping for something a little less obvious.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

The discovery of Neptune is something that happened in two different places in the 19th century (complicated story). Not quite what you're looking for.

What was Charles Fort saying?

Submarines keep cropping up; some inventors may not have been aware of older or contemporary developments elsewhere. I daresay you can comment further on this. Bushnell, Fulton, and the Hunley come to mind, but there were a raft (sorry) of others...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Fort's idea was that the idea of steam power was around 2000 years before anything was done with it, and that the universe had in some way changed to allow steam to be harnessed. In fact steam power was one of those ideas that was waiting for advances in materials and engineering technology, and early pumping engines were used in 18th century, as soon as the technology was available.