The ‘Real McCoy’: Inventor Elijah McCoy

Is Elijah McCoy responsible for the idiom that bears his last name? The inventor is best known for creating a way to keep locomotives running.

A mechanical lubricator for the cylinders, invented by Elijah McCoy, and operated by the connecting lever seen below it (or by the hand wheel, for priming). The smaller one to the right is a syphonic lubricator. Public Domain

Some say that one man’s industrial invention gave rise to the slang idiom “the real McCoy,” a turn of phrase denoting quality and authenticity. Although most commonly accepted accounts of the phrase state otherwise, the true origin of the expression matters little: A uniquely American tale can to be told from one of the popular interpretations.

Elijah McCoy was a prolific inventor with prodigious mind, patenting an impressive array of devices, approximately 50 to 75 total (sources range between the two figures). Indeed, McCoy was a pivotal player in the development of lubricating systems for the industry and transportation systems of the 1870s, as the economy of coal, corn, wheat, and railroad shipping exponentially matured in America.