Home > Development of the Industrial U.S. > Elijah McCoy Biography

Born May 2, 1844 (Colchester, Ontario, Canada)

Died October 10, 1929 (Eloise, Michigan)

Inventor

Engineer

American inventor Elijah McCoy patented a lubricating (reducing friction between two solid objects) device for locomotive engines that was widely used in the railroad industry for more than forty years. McCoy's oil cup, which dripped a steady flow of oil into an engine while it was running, was a major time-saver for the train engineers of the era. Previously, they had to halt the train and manually oil the engine and its parts to keep it running smoothly. McCoy had once done that very job himself, and his idea came from that experience. He never earned much money from this or from any of his other inventions, however, and died penniless.

Educated in Scotland

McCoy was born in 1844, in Colchester, Ontario, in Canada. His parents were escaped slaves from a Kentucky...