How shared engineering accelerated the steam transition

The move from sail to steam power took about forty years, a remarkably short interval in human terms. Marine, land, and locomotive engines differed in form, yet many underlying principles could move between those fields. That transfer let improvements in one engineering setting inform work in another rather than forcing shipbuilders to solve every problem independently. This short section explains how a broad industrial knowledge base accelerated naval propulsion even while individual engine layouts remained specialised.