jac4b,
Nope, you are not getting it. A transistor acts like a fast changing variable resistor in a circuit. A transistor's name comes from the words "transfer resistance". It cannot deliver more voltage than the battery voltage, or more than the short-circuit current of the battery. It simply changes the energy flow from the battery according to a control signal. The control signal uses little energy and controls a relatively large amount of energy from the battery, but all energy sources have finite limits which are never exceeded. Stay dry and don't get confused by hydraulic analogies. Just remember that small amounts of control signal energy control large amounts of electrical energy to a load. That's amplification.
Ratch