Elijah McCoy
Inspirational People
Hello, Klever Champs.
Welcome to our Inspirational People Section.
This section presents the remarkable stories of some powerful individuals who enriched this earth with their cool inventions.
Let me begin by telling you about a black man called Elijah McCoy.
Have you ever heard the expression ‘the real McCoy’?
No?
Well, it is a cool expression to use when describing something original and of great quality.
For example, when you say: “My father bought a Rolex for me! It is the real McCoy!”
It means your watch is not a fake Rolex but a quality watch.
Let me now tell you how this cool expression came to be.
A long time ago, there was a black man called Elijah McCoy.
He was born on 2nd May 1843.
His parents were poor slaves, but when Elijah was 15 years old, they sent him to college in Scotland to study Mechanical Engineering. A big word, huh?
Well, it simply means the study of how machines work and how to make different kinds of machines.
Elijah returned to America after his studies.
He was employed at the Michigan Central Railroad, and his duties included oiling the moving parts of the trains.
You see, when engines work, metal parts move against each other. These metal parts need oil to keep them running smoothly without breaking down or getting too hot.
In the days of Elijah McCoy, you needed to stop the machines before you could oil them. Trains, thus, had to stop frequently to be oiled. This practice delayed the movement of trains, causing inconveniences to passengers.
The manual practice of oiling train parts was also not a very easy task, as it sometimes became difficult to apply oil to every part that needed oil.
Elijah McCoy said this was not good enough. There needed to be a way to oil engines without stopping them, and he decided to find a way out.
Elijah faced a lot of challenges in his quest to find a way to oil the trains, but that did not stop him
He was really clever, and so finally he invented the oil-drip cup.
The oil-drip cup allowed machines and engines to be oiled without stopping them!
When the oil-drip cup was fixed to the trains, the engines could work and work and work without stopping because Mr McCoy’s invention allowed oil to drip slowly onto the moving engines all the time.
In those days, black people were mostly used as slaves.
But suddenly everybody was talking about this brilliant black man who invented this powerful oil-drip cup!
All the manufacturers were soon chasing Mr McCoy’s invention. No one would buy an engine or a machine if it were not fitted with Mr McCoy’s oil-drip cup.
Some people tried to copy Mr McCoy’s oil-drip cup, but something funny happened:
Their inventions were not as good as Mr McCoy’s.
Sometimes people bought oil-drip cups and realised too late that they were not genuine McCoy cups. Very soon, buyers began to insist on real McCoy drip cups.
So, they would say: “Look, are you selling me a fake oil-drip cup or is it the real McCoy?”
So that’s how the expression ‘the real McCoy’ began.
Klever Heroes, you can be powerful regardless of your race, just like Elijah McCoy.
God did not make you lazy and dull like some folks say.
God made you in His image, and so you’re brilliant and clever.
So do not say you cannot do your Mathematics, or that you are not clever enough to master your English at school.
You’re powerful, and so you can achieve any goal you set for yourself … never forget that.
The rule is: never ever give up…and you will succeed.
By Aaron Ansah-Agyeman
