Samuel Morey

American inventor

Written and fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

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

Quick Facts

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

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

See all related content

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.