Elijah McCoy

Ever wonder where the saying "The real McCoy" comes from? Canadian inventor Elijah McCoy's automatic lubricating system out preformed the competition by such a large margin that railroad engineers would be sure to avoid imitators by requesting "The real McCoy" system.

By Rights Held by: Ypsilanti Historical Society - Copyright: Creative Commons (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-alike), CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55717775

Born free in Ontario to parents who escaped slavery by way of the Underground Railroad. McCoy would go on to hold 57 patents, including the folding ironing board and the lawn sprinkler.


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