Science, Medicine & Engineering
Landmark
Elijah McCoy
1843 – 1929
Fifty patents in industrial lubrication, and possibly the phrase "the real McCoy"
Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Canada Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
His parents escaped slavery in Kentucky on the Underground Railroad. He trained as a mechanical engineer in Edinburgh, came home to a country that would not hire him, and patented more than fifty inventions anyway.
Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester, Canada West, in 1843 or 1844. His parents, George McCoy and Mildred Goins, had escaped enslavement in Kentucky by the Underground Railroad, reaching Upper Canada in 1837.
At fifteen he went to Edinburgh and served a five-year apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer. Unable to find engineering work on his return to Canada, he took a job as a fireman on the Michigan Central Railroad, and from there began inventing. He registered more than fifty patents, chiefly in industrial lubrication, and is commonly named as the origin of the phrase "the real McCoy", used by engineers who refused the cheaper copies of his devices. He died in Michigan in 1929.
At fifteen he went to Edinburgh and served a five-year apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer. Unable to find engineering work on his return to Canada, he took a job as a fireman on the Michigan Central Railroad, and from there began inventing. He registered more than fifty patents, chiefly in industrial lubrication, and is commonly named as the origin of the phrase "the real McCoy", used by engineers who refused the cheaper copies of his devices. He died in Michigan in 1929.
- The Canadian Encyclopedia — Elijah McCoy
- Britannica — Elijah McCoy
- US National Park Service — Elijah McCoy
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