In Michigan, Elijah could find work only as a fireman and oiler at the Michigan Central Railroad. It was hot and tiring as locomotives had to shut down several times a day to be greased and oiled by hand. Elijah tinkered in his home machine shop trying to come up with a better way.
In 1872 Elijah finally patented the "Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines." It was a device which delivered oil to the working surfaces of the locomotives' engines and axles from a gravity-fed cup. He basically created a device which made his own job obsolete.
Because he had limited production capability, Elijah was unable to keep up with demand and copies of his invention began to spring up despite the patent. But no one was able to create a system that worked as well as Elijah's.
Railroad operators began to ask for his invention by his last name. It's a name you know and have probably used. The real McCoy."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9PsHwE7UNU
In Michigan, Elijah could find work only as a fireman and oiler at the Michigan Central Railroad. It was hot and tiring as locomotives had to shut down several times a day to be greased and oiled by hand. Elijah tinkered in his home machine shop trying to come up with a better way.
In 1872 Elijah finally patented the "Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines." It was a device which delivered oil to the working surfaces of the locomotives' engines and axles from a gravity-fed cup. He basically created a device which made his own job obsolete.
Because he had limited production capability, Elijah was unable to keep up with demand and copies of his invention began to spring up despite the patent. But no one was able to create a system that worked as well as Elijah's.
Railroad operators began to ask for his invention by his last name. It's a name you know and have probably used. The real McCoy."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9PsHwE7UNU
(post is archived)