Categories: Articles, Hazel Rosetta Smith,
The Real McCoy” is an idiom and metaphor used to mean the real thing or the genuine article. In these times of fake news and artificial intelligence, it is difficult to find the real in anything.
Black History reveals the story of the real McCoy. Elijah McCoy was born to George and Mildred Goins McCoy on May 2, 1844, in Colchester, Canada. His parents were fugitive slaves who made their escape from Kentucky to Canada by way of the Underground Railroad. When Elijah reached the age of three, his family returned to the United States, residing in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
As a teenager, his parents supported his interest in mechanics and allowed Elijah to study abroad. By the time Elijah was the age of fifteen, he had travelled to Edinburg, Scotland, worked as an apprentice, was trained, and certified as a mechanical engineer.
He returned to Michigan to seek work and was met with disappointment. McCoy’s training and qualifications were not acceptable in the United States. Skilled professional positions in any area of employment were not available to African Americans.
Elijah finally found employment as an oiler and locomotive firefighter for the Michigan Central Railroad Company. His primary responsibilities were maintaining bearings, axles, moving engine parts and refueling of the trains. Though the job was considered low manual labor, it was this line of work that opened the way for McCoy’s first major invention.
Through his extensive engineering training and experience, he discovered a solution for engines that too frequently became overheated with lubrication problems. After studying the inefficiencies and time-consuming mechanisms in the system of oiling, McCoy invented a method of automating the task.
His invention of a steam lubricator made use of steam pressure to impel oil when needed. McCoy’s lubricator became an enormous success with orders from railroad companies all over the country.
His patent in 1872 answered a profound need for the railroads. Additionally, McCoy’s device not only improved it was eventually used in oil-drilling and mining equipment as well as in construction and factory tools.
When White inventors tried to steal McCoy’s original idea and sell their own versions of the lubricator, numerous companies were not fooled. They insisted on the authentic lubricator using the term “the real McCoy” on invoices.
Although McCoy’s achievements were recognized in his own time, his name did not appear on many of the products that he devised, receiving sixty patents over the course of his life.
In 1920, Elijah McCoy opened his first manufacturing firm utilizing his own name. While many of his inventions related to lubrication systems, he also developed designs for an ironing board, a lawn sprinkler, and other machines.
Elijah McCoy died in Michigan on October 10, 1929. The lubricator he invented has served as his legacy throughout the world. He is remembered as being the inventor of “The Real McCoy.”
[Hazel Rosetta Smith is a journalist, playwright, artistic director for Help Somebody Theatrical Ministries; retired former Managing Editor and Woman’s Editor of the New York Beacon News. Contact: misshazel@twc.com]
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