Samuel Morey

American inventor

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Quick Facts

Born:: Oct. 23, 1762, Hebron, Conn., U.S.

Died:: April 17, 1843, Fairlee, Vt. (aged 80)

See all related content

Samuel Morey (born Oct. 23, 1762, Hebron, Conn., U.S.—died April 17, 1843, Fairlee, Vt.) was an American inventor.

With support from Robert R. Livingston, Morey experimented with steamboats in the 1790s; though none was commercially successful, he later claimed that Robert Fulton had stolen his ideas. In 1826 he received the first U.S. patent for an internal-combustion engine. His many other patents included his American Water Burner (1818), a precursor of the water-gas process.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.