Elijah J. McCoy was an inventor and engineer whose 57 patents and the invention of the locomotive lubrication cup led to the slogan “The real McCoy”, denoting quality.
He was born in Colchester in 1844. He was born free. The area was a destination for slaves escaping the U.S. via the Underground Railroad in the mid-19th century.
At the age of fifteen, he left Canada for Edinburgh, Scotland, where he apprenticed for five years as a mechanical engineer.
