Happy 200th Birthday to The American Internal Combustion Engine +VIDEO
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The internal combustion engine was born in America
- and it wasn't raised on gasoline.
- and it wasn't raised on gasoline.
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THE AUTO CHANNEL
As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday in 2026, which is perhaps the single most significant event in the history of the world, we celebrate another landmark historical event - the 200th anniversary of the patent for the internal combustion engine, one of the most consequential inventions in human history. And it was an American invention.
Even more remarkable, it was an invention that was originally powered not by gasoline which hadn’t even been invented yet, or by any petroleum based fuel—but by alcohol vapor.
Yet remarkably few Americans and other world citizens know his name.
The inventor was a New England genius named Samuel Morey.
THE FORGOTTEN AMERICAN INVENTOR
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Long before Karl Benz, Nicolaus Otto, Gottlieb Daimler, Henry Ford, or Rudolf Diesel, Morey envisioned an engine that produced power by igniting fuel within a cylinder.
BEFORE GASOLINE… THERE WAS ALCOHOL
Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Morey's invention is his choice of fuel. His engine was designed to run on alcohol vapor and other combustible vapors. At the time, the petroleum industry did not yet exist.
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Even Nicolaus Otto’s four-stroke engine, built fifty years later in 1876, operated on an alcohol based fuel. (Hokey smokes, Bullwinkle, that’s another anniversary!
AN INVENTION THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
The internal combustion engine would eventually transform civilization. It would power automobiles, trucks, tractors, boats, aircraft, generators, and countless industrial machines. It would reshape commerce, agriculture, and personal mobility. The modern world rides upon a technological foundation that Samuel Morey helped build. Yet his name has largely faded from public memory. Perhaps that should change. The Auto Channel thinks that at least a U.S. postage stamp should be issued in Morey’s honor!
Watch the exclusive video of Samuel Morey's internal combustion engine in operation
A LIFELONG INTEREST IN POWERING VEHICLES
Morey's interest in engines did not begin with his 1826 patent. Years earlier, he had become fascinated by the idea of replacing muscle, wind, and water currents with mechanical power.
As early as the 1790s, he developed a steam engine that propelled a boat on the Ohio River. In fact, Morey spent much of his life experimenting with steam engines and other forms of propulsion for both land and water transportation. His dream was not simply to build an engine. His dream was to build engines that could move people and goods. By land; by water; perhaps even one day by means not yet imagined.
THE MYSTERY OF THE SELF-PROPELLED WAGON
One of the most intriguing stories surrounding Morey concerns a demonstration in Philadelphia. According to later historical accounts, Morey mounted one of his engines on a wagon and demonstrated it in public. During one test, he reportedly fell from the wagon, which then continued down Market Street before ending up in a ditch.
If true, this would make Morey's machine one of America's earliest self-propelled road vehicles. However, historians must exercise caution. The historical record does not conclusively establish whether:
• 1. The engine actually propelled the wagon, or
• 2. The wagon merely served as a convenient means of transporting and displaying the engine.
The precise nature of the demonstration remains uncertain. Nevertheless, the story underscores an important point: Samuel Morey was actively thinking about the use of engines to power transportation decades before the automobile age began, and it didn’t rely on any poisonous petroleum based fuel.
More About Samuel Morey
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• Born: 1762, Hebron, Connecticut Colony
• Died: 1843, Fairlee, Vermont
• U.S. Patent No.: X4378
• Patent Date: April 1, 1826
• Invention: "Gas or Vapor Engine"
• Fuel: Alcohol vapor and other combustible vapors
• Earlier Work: Steamboat propulsion and transportation engines
• Legacy: One of the earliest pioneers of the internal combustion engine.
HOW DID ALCOHOL GET EDGED OUT AS THE PRIMARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE FUEL?
Hopefully, you've been intrigued enough by this editorial to ask, "How the heck did ethanol get shoved out of the way in favor of the deadly poison gasoline. Ethanol should have been the primary fuel for internal combustion engines. What happened was that an onerous tax was placed on ethanol production in America to help pay for the Civil War. When the war ended, the taxation did not, and it continued until 1907. I've written about this for many years. The following reports will explain it:
• Life As We Might Have Known It: What If Ethanol Was Our Primary Engine Fuel
• The Rise & Fall of General Motors and the Subjugation of the Industrialized World
• UK's Department for Transport Uses Boogeyman Allusions to Sidetrack E10 Adoption