George
and Mildred McCoy could have remained as slaves in Kentucky. Instead, they found
the courage in 1837 to flee to Ontario, Canada, via the Underground Railroad.
They had 11 children, and they certainly picked the right name for their son
Elijah, named after the prophet in the Bible.
He
grew up to be a modern-day miracle worker, an inventor who held 57 patents.
When
he was about 15, his family moved to Ypsilanti, Michigan. Seeing promise in
Elijah, his parents sent him to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where
he studied to become a mechanical engineer.
When
he returned home degree in hand, the only job he could find was as a Fireman-Oiler
on the Michigan Central Railroad. He shoveled coal into the locomotive’s steam
engine and tended to its boiler to make sure it didn’t explode. But being an
oiler truly inspired McCoy.
In those days, trains had to make regular
stops so that their bearings, cylinders, and levers, and other moving parts
could be lubricated by hand. This meant that every train had an man aboard like
McCoy whose job it was to walk from one end of the train to the other carrying
a long-necked oil can and applying oil where it was needed. This meant delays
and extra labor costs for railroad companies. What’s more, other industries
also needed oilers to regularly service their machines.
Cruel talk
McCoy had a workshop in his home, and in 1872
he won patent #129,843 for an automatic lubricator. It could be used to oil all
manner of steam engines in trains, ships, factories, mines, oil-drilling rigs,
and elsewhere.
Other
inventors had created similar devices. These were basically container that had
a tiny stopcock that insured a regular, continuous flow to oil to gears and
axles in motion. McCoy’s proved far superior, so much so that it was derided as
a “n*gger oil cup.”
Such
cruel talk did not last long, for McCoy’s invention rapidly won acclaim. He was
often called on to personally supervise its installation. Soon enough when engineers
and mechanics bought or examined lubricating equipment, they would ask “Is this
the real McCoy?” The highest praise, though, came when competitors studied his
design and copied it.
Today
there is some dispute over whether the expression began with McCoy’s invention.
Suffice it to say that no less of an authority than the Smithsonian Institution
believes McCoy’s ingenuity is the source of the expression. In 1989, it named
an exhibition on African American Invention and Innovation, 1619-1930—“The Real
McCoy.”
McCoy
went on to patent improved tire treads and rubber heels, a new gauge, and most
notably three patents for automatic lawn sprinklers and the collapsible ironing
board. (His wife had complained to him
about how hard it was to iron clothes on uneven surfaces.)
He
stayed active in his field into old age. When he was 72, he filed a patent for
a graphite/oil lubricating system to service modern engines which ran at far
higher speeds than steam engines. (It allowed for a solid lubricant such as graphite
to be suspended in a lubricating liquid without clogging under high
temperatures.) He also served as a consultant to major corporations and offered
career counseling to young men.
MORAL:
The squeaky wheel gets the inspiration.
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