Elijah McCoy

Elijah McCoy (1844-1929) American inventor. McCoy was best known for his inventions of devices used to lubricate heavy machinery automatically. He was born in Colchester, Ontario, Canada, to parents who had escaped from slavery in Kentucky in 1837.

McCoy went to Edinburgh, Scotland, at age 15 and studied mechanical engineering for five years. Returning home, he became a railroad fireman on the Michigan State Railroad. In those days steam locomotives had to stop at intervals so that the fireman could oil their pistons, levers, and connecting pins. About 1870, while living in the town of Ypsilanti, Michigan, McCoy began to experiment with automatic lubricators for steam engines.

He received his first patent in 1872 for a 'lubricator cup' that provided a steady but unregulated flow of oil to a lubricating point. Later that year he patented a lubricator equipped with stopcocks linked to a rod that enabled the oil flow to be controlled. The oil was steam-heated to keep it from congealing in cold weather. In 1925 McCoy invented a graphite lubricator for steam engines that ran on superheated steam. The graphite was suspended in oil and the design prevented lubricant clogging. McCoy's lubricators were used on locomotives, steamships, and factory machinery.

McCoy also patented an ironing table (1874) and a scaffold support (1907). He spent most of his adult life in Detroit, where he often worked with black children and urged them toward success.