The Aeleopile was a simple mechanical device that generated kinetic energy from steam.

Its invention seems to be attributed to the Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century AD.

Source: Aeoleopile

With the benefit of hindsight the leap to the that kinetic energy to generate motion or operate machinery seems logical, yet as far as I can tell it wasn't made until the 17th century, when steam power would first be used to do meaningful work.

Why did the ensuing 1,500 years following the invention and publication of the Aeleopile not yield a single industrial application of this technology? And why could the industrial revolution take hold in 18th century Brittain, when it could not in 1st century ancient Greece?