Complex sentence: Or, lacking money from the Patowmack Company, he wished to concentrate his efforts on the more promising steam pump, but at some point in 1786, work on the pole-boat mechanism was abandoned.
Split into simpler sentences: Or, lacking money from the Patowmack Company, he wished to concentrate his efforts on the more promising steam pump. At some point in 1786, work on the pole-boat mechanism was abandoned.