Why could John Barber’s proposed gas-turbine engine not operate successfully?

John Barber’s 1791 design for a gas-turbine engine was never built as a working model, and it could not have operated successfully for two primary reasons. First, the design relied on the low efficiency of the mechanical components available during the 18th century, which were insufficient to sustain the engine's operation. Second, while his sketches incorporated the essential components of a modern engine—including a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine—the technology of the time lacked the capability to achieve the necessary efficiencies to drive both the compressor and an external load simultaneously.1