Automatic lubrication device inventor Elijah McCoy acquired his first patent in 1872. Until now, lubricating required stopping the engines completely. Engine lubrication was made possible while running thanks to McCoy’s idea.
Slave McCoy’s parents escaped to Canada from Kentucky. McCoy was born in Canada and relocated to Ypsilanti, Michigan, with his family. In Scotland, he was sent to school at the age of fifteen by his parents. He pursued a career in mechanical engineering at the university, a field he had been interested in since he was a child.
What is Elijah McCoy Famous for
A mechanical engineer position was not available upon McCoy’s return home, so the Michigan Central Railroad hired him as a fireman. As part of his job, he had to lubricate engine components. The trains had to be stopped and restarted each time the engines needed lubrication, which was inefficient. As a result of McCoy’s conviction that a better method existed, he developed his automatic lubricator.
McCoy kept improving his lubricating apparatus, and soon long-distance railways, transatlantic ships, and factory machinery were utilizing it. Customers were leery of making low-cost substitutions after hearing about his good name in the industry. Thus, they frequently requested “the real McCoy,” a word that still remains in modern English.
Who invented oil lubricating cup
On May 2, 1844, in Colchester, Ontario, Canada, Elijah McCoy was born. His parents, George and Mildred McCoy, had been enslaved from birth and fled to Canada on the Underground Railroad, where they were rescued by the Canadian government. For his service in the British army, George McCoy received 160 acres of land. Elijah’s family relocated to Detroit, Michigan, when he was three years old. Eventually, they settled in the Michigan city of Ypsilanti, where George started a tobacco company. There were eleven siblings in all for Elijah.
Early on, he was fascinated by tools and equipment and how they could be repaired or improved.
WHO WAS ELIJAH MCCOY
Elijah McCoy was a revolutionary Black inventor who invented an automatic lubricator that kept engines oiled as they operate.In 1837, McCoy’s parents escaped slavery in Kentucky through the Underground Railroad, which meant that McCoy was born in Colchester, Ontario. However, he returned to the US with his family when he was a child.At 15 years-old, McCoy travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland, to become a mechanical engineering apprentice.
When he came back to the US, McCoy struggled to land a job because of his race, and he joined the Michigan Central Railroad as a fireman and oiler. It was during his time in this role that McCoy invented what was known as the “oil-drip cup.”
His invention caused oil to slow around the engine, lubricating it, without needing to stop the train. NPR reports that McCoy’s invention led to a range of knock-offs, which (it is rumoured) resulted in customers asking for “the real McCoy.” This is, therefore, potentially where the common phrase comes from.
GOOGLE HONOURS MCCOY WITH DOODLE
On May 2nd, the Google doodle is of McCoy in honour of his birthday. Google explains that their doodles aim to celebrate “interesting events and anniversaries that reflect Google’s personality and love of innovation.”
The description, and reasoning behind Google’s choice to feature McCoy on today’s Google, reads in part: “McCoy’s innovations and ingenuity kept trains chugging and have laid the tracks for the well-oiled machines of today.”
ELIJAH MCCOY PERSONAL LIFE
McCoy was married twice during his life. In 1868, he married Ann Elizabeth Stewart, but four years into their marriage she died. In 1873, he married Mary Eleanor Delaney.
Tragically, the couple were involved in an automobile incident which saw Mary lose her life. Elijah McCoy suffered serious injuries.
McCoy died aged 85 in 1929. He was buried at Detroit Memorial Park East in Warren, Michigan.
In 2001, McCoy was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, and also has an exhibit in the Detroit Historical Museum.