McCoy, Elijah, 1844-1929

Elijah McCoy was born May 2, 1844 in, Colchester, ON, Canada. His parents were fugitive slaves who had escaped from Kentucky to Canada; at some point in the 1860s the family moved to Michigan. At age 15, in 1859, Elijah McCoy was sent to Edinburgh, Scotland for an apprenticeship and study and was certified as a mechanical engineer. Upon returning to Michigan, he could find work only as a fireman and oiler at the Michigan Central Railroad but did more highly skilled work and inventing at home. He invented an automatic lubricator for oiling the Steam engines of locomotives and ships, patenting it in 1872 as "Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines". He obtained over 50 patents, most having to do with lubricating systems. He formed the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company to produce his works. McCoyn was married twice: first to Ann Elizabeth Stewart in 1868, and then to Mary Eleanor Delaney in 1873. McCoy died on October 10, 1929 after suffering injuries from a car accident seven years earlier.