Elijah McCoy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elijah McCoy

Elijah McCoy (born May 2, 1844 in Colchester, Ontario ; † October 10, 1929 in Eloise Hospital, Westland , Wayne County , Michigan) was an Afro-Canadian engineer and inventor.

family

His parents, George and Mildred McCoy, were slaves who fled Kentucky, USA, to Canada using the Underground Railroad . George served in the army and participated in the 1837 rebellions . Then the government gave him 160 acres of farmland near Colchester.

Career

Elijah was sent to Edinburgh , Scotland, to study mechanical engineering at the age of 15 . After completing his studies, he went to Ypsilanti , Michigan , where his family had now settled. As a black man, he only found work as a stoker and greaser on the Michigan Central Railroad . He invented an automatic lubrication device for the steam engine of the locomotives, for which he received US Patent 129,843 in 1872. (Similar to John R. Sees' US Patent 40433 from 1863.)

As a result, he improved his invention and by 1900 had more patents than other black inventors. In 2001 he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame .

Phrase

Elijah McCoy is considered to be a possible origin of the American idiom "The real McCoy". The phrase " The real McCoy " stands for The True Jacob or the True .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Elijah McCoy ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the National Inventors Hall of Fame, at www.invent.org, accessed January 23, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.invent.org
  2. ↑ Elijah McCoy on findagrave.com, accessed January 23, 2009
  3. ↑ It will also be May 2, 1843 ( Elijah McCoy ( Memento of the original from May 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice . January fetched in Argot Language Center, on www.r-go.ca, 23, 2009 (English)), rarely 27 March 1837 given as date of birth. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.r-go.ca
  4. ↑ http://talesofeloise.com/mccoy.html
  5. ↑ Kat Eschner, This Prolific Inventor Helped Give Us The Phrase “The Real McCoy” , Smithsonian Magazine, May 2, 2007.
  6. ↑ " The real McCoy " in the online dictionary on dict.cc .
personal data
SURNAME McCoy, Elijah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Afro-Canadian engineer and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Colchester , Province of Canada
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1929
Place of death Westland , Michigan , United States