Specialized steam engines were adapted to particularly demanding applications requiring power that prior to the Steam Era were practically unavailble. The Herculian enormity and seemingly boundless dependable power of steam  was applied in the first applications by way of stationary "walking beam" steam engines developed by James Watt to pump out mines.  portable steam engines and self propelled locomotive steam engines were dedicated to special uses in other areas of manufacturing to provide rotating power to line shafts that propelled all types of equipment in factories and workshops.