High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Sylvester H. Roper (Francestown, New Hampshire 24 November 1823 – 1 June 1896 Cambridge, Massachusetts) was an inventor from Roxbury, Boston, Massachusetts, and a pioneering builder of early automobiles and motorcycles. In 1863 he built a steam carriage, one of the earliest automobiles. The Roper steam velocipede of 1867–1869 may have been the first motorcycle, for which he was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2002. He is also the inventor of the shotgun choke and a revolver repeating shotgun.