 In common with many other areas of steam technology, the initial design and development of portable engines took place in England, with many other countries initially importing British-built equipment rather than developing their own.Early steam engines were too large and expensive for use on the average farm; however, the first positive evidence of steam power being used to drive a threshing machine was in 1799 in north Yorkshire.The next recorded application was in 1812, when Richard Trevithick designed the first 'semi-portable' stationary steam engine for agricultural use, known as a "barn engine".