What were Elijah McCoys greatest accomplishments?
–Working in a home-built machine shop in Ypsilanti, McCoy devised an invention that became known as the lubricating cup. It relied on a piston set within an oil-filled container. Steam pressure pushed on the piston and thereby drove the oil into channels that carried it to the engine’s operating parts. McCoy received a United States patent for this device on June 23, 1872… his proved to be quite useful, for locomotives lasted longer and needed less maintenance. McCoy’s lubricating cup proved adaptable to other types of steam engines, which were used in factories and at sea. Versions of this cup became standard components on many types of heavy machinery, entering service on railways of the West, on Great Lakes steamships, and even on transatlantic liners.” –He also worked as an industrial consultant, assisting the Detroit Lubricator Company and other firms. — In April 1915, McCoy received a patent for what he called a “Locomotive Lubricator.” Within his patent application, he clai
