Morey, Samuel

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