Well, as far as I can tell, even the electromechanical computers of the 1930s were not significantly faster than humans using mechanical calculators. That’s why I don’t think it would have worked in Babbage’s day. More details in the middle of this essay https://rootsofprogress.org/epistemic-standards-for-why-it-took-so-long
Back then there was already significant demand for “human computers”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_(occupation)#Origins_in_sciences I think it is plausible than one of Babbage’s steam powered machines could have been faster than quite a few people.
Well, as far as I can tell, even the electromechanical computers of the 1930s were not significantly faster than humans using mechanical calculators. That’s why I don’t think it would have worked in Babbage’s day. More details in the middle of this essay https://rootsofprogress.org/epistemic-standards-for-why-it-took-so-long
Thanks!