The REAL McCoy BlackHistoryMonth Elijah McCoy: engineer and inventor of the lubricant oil cup that would automatically drip oil onto locomotive engines and parts as trains moved, making maintenance more efficient, saving time, money, and in some cases fingers of mechanical workers. McCoy improved and subsequently patented his invention in 1872. Other inventors created similar devices but it was NOT as good as his, so much so that railroad companies only wanted and asked for “the real McCoy!”