"fulcrum" is another dandy word. There is an old chestnut about Archimedes saying that
he could move the earth if given a fulcrum and a place to stand.
There was an interesting article about the Greek naval victory at Salamis in Scientific American
a couple years ago. The Greeks had a very advanced technical device which gave their rowers
a longer, more powerful stroke. So secret that a playwright was threatened when he made a sly
allusion to it in a play. It consisted of a wax pad rower sat on, and straps across his feet, so
his butt could pe pushed backward, as in modern sculling. Modern seats are on rollers or tiny wheels.