Blacks invented despite the odds -- Part 4

When Elijah McCoy returned to America after getting his training in Scotland
nobody wanted to hire him as an engineer. Nevertheless, McCoy
invented a lubrication device which proved to be a game changer
for the shipping and manufacturing industries.

Note: This is the fourth of a seven-part series on black inventors in honor of Black History Month.

By Craig T. Greenlee

To realize his dream of becoming an engineer, Elijah McCoy found it necessary to acquire the training he needed on foreign soil. So, he enrolled in an apprenticeship program for mechanical engineers in Scotland.

Convinced that his background would practically guarantee him a job in America, McCoy returned to "the land of the free," but found out that employers were not interested. Those same employers would soon discover that the man they refused to hire, created a series of lubricating devices that revolutionized the shipping and manufacturing industries.

The Industrial Age was here to stay.

Making the best of a not-so-good situation

Oddly enough, it was the Jim Crow mentality that indirectly spawned McCoy's ideas. He was forced to take a job as a railroad fireman since black engineers were shunned. One of the duties of a railroad fireman was to oil the moving parts of the locomotive engine at certain intervals.

It was not an easy task to execute. The trouble was that to oil those parts, the train had to stop. Factories faced the same problem with getting adequate lubrication for the heavy stationary machinery they used.

McCoy comes up with solution

In McCoy's mind, this was very annoying since stops wasted time and caused slowdowns for the trains and factory production. This is why constant lubrication of machinery was so vital for the growth of fledgling industries.

McCoy's first lubricator, which was patented in 1872, was designed for use only on stationary machinery, especially steam engines. A modified version of his invention received a patent the following year.


Lubricating train engines proved to be much more difficult, but McCoy came up with a simple solution. The device he invented was small, but paid big dividends by speeding up railroad deliveries, which gave a tremendous boost to a young American industrial economy. Word spread quickly and McCoy's lubricators became a must-have item for a rapidly-growing list of companies in the railroad and shipping industries.

Imitation is the highest form of flattery

The competition for rail and shipping contracts was fierce. So, it was no surprise that many imitations of the McCoy lubricators flooded the market. Even so, none of the copy-cats matched the efficiency of the original. McCoy's lubricators were known to the best.

Many industrial buyers refused to purchase lubricators for their firms unless they were made by McCoy. This is how the term "the real McCoy" originated. Buyers would often ask -- "Is this the real McCoy?" -- before singing on the dotted line.

Next: "The Black Edison"




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