RESPECT -> THE REAL MCCOY
African Americans are renowned for being pioneers in many areas – music, dance and sport. However one area that has been overlooked is their contribution to inventions. One particular invention, the lubricating cup, was created by an African American called Elijah McCoy.
Born on May 2nd 1844 in Ontario in Canada to fugitive slaves, Elijah McCoy as a young boy soon discovered his love for machinery. His family settled in Ypsilanti in Michigan where Elijah went on to study an mechanical engineering in Edinburgh, Scotland.before he moved back to the States after completing his apprenticeship but encountered discrimination. Unable to get a job as an engineer, McCoy settled for a position as a fireman for the Michigan Central Railroad where he oiled the engines. It was here that he got the inspiration for his first invention.
McCoy became interested in the process of the lubrication of machines and he learnt that that in order to oil the train this involved a lengthy task. This was extremely time consuming so McCoy began to explore different ways to make the process of oiling more cost effective.
Pretty soon McCoy came up with a device called the ‘lubricating cap ’ and on July 12 1872 he patented his first invention, which was an automatic lubricator. This design was successful beyond his wildest dreams as it allowed machines to continue to operate while oil .owed to the gears and the moving parts.
Following his success McCoy turned his hands to designing other mechanisms and in 1892 he invented devices to lubricate railroad locomotives. In the 1920 he applied his lubricating system to airbrakes used on locomotives and other vehicles using air brakes. After his death in 1929 he left behind a legacy of over 50 patented inventions. The expression ‘the real McCoy ’, meaning ‘the genuine article ’,is perhaps his most popular legacy, but few are aware of its origin.
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