Elijah McCoy

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

His parents, George and Mildred McCoy were slaves who had escaped with the help of the Underground Railroad from Kentucky, USA, Canada. George served in the Army and took part in the rebellions of 1837. After that, the government gave him 160 acres of farmland near Colchester.

Elijah was sent at the age of 15 years to the study of mechanical engineering in Edinburgh, Scotland. After graduating, he went to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where his family had settled in the meantime. As Black, he found only work as a heater and greasers at the Michigan Central Railroad. He invented an automatic lubricator for the steam engine locomotives, for which he received in 1872, U.S. Patent 129 843. ( Similarly, John R. Lake ' U.S. Patent 40433 of 1863. )

As a result, he improved his invention and had to 1900 more patents than any other black inventor. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2001.