The "real McCoy""
Elijah McCoy
(1843 - 1929)
Elijah McCoy was an ingenious inventor whose inventions have helped make trains and all things with engines move more smoothly and safely.
Elijah was born to George and Mildred McCoy in 1843, in Colchester, Ontario, Canada. Elijah's parents escaped to Canada from slave life in Kentucky aboard the Underground Railroad before the Civil War.
The McCoy's soon moved back to the United States where his father found work in the logging industry in Ypsilanti, Mich. It was in Ypsilanti where Elijah found a fascination with everything mechanical.
Until he was 15, Elijah attended grammar school, and with money his parents had saved, was able to go to Edinburgh, Scotland to serve an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering. When he returned, he was an engineer but could not find work, so he settled for a job as a fireman on the Michigan Central Railroad.
His job was not only to put wood in the engine's furnace, but also to oil moving parts when the train was stopped. Oiling train parts was dangerous, expensive and time consuming, but it had to be done. Trains would often run into trains that were stopped for oiling because there was no means of communication between trains at the time.
Realizing the dangers and expense early on, Elijah set out to invent a self-lubricating device. In 1872, he patented a lubricator for steam engines allowing moving parts to be oiled while the train was moving.
At first, few people wanted to use his invention, but as word of how well it worked grew, demand for the "real McCoy" in their engines also grew.
Throughout his life, Elijah McCoy never stopped inventing. He received 57 patents, including one for an improved air brake lubricator at the age of 77. To enhance his success in 1920, he established the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company in Detroit, Mich. to make and sell his inventions.
His inventions are now used all over the world from the U.S. to Canada to Russia and to Austria in trains, steamships, ocean liners and machinery in factories.