[SEL] McCoy Lubricator

[Rick Rowlands]

Thats what I get for getting a history lesson from the Greenfield Village! 
They had an actor portraying Elijah McCoy a few years back.

Rick

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Best, George" <George_Best at adp.com>
To: "The SEL email discussion list" <sel at lists.stationary-engine.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 12:03 PM
Subject: Re: [SEL] McCoy Lubricator


> >From the http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/mccoy/  website:
>
>
> "Real McCoy"
> Of the biographical sketches of Elijah McCoy one finds in books and on
> the Internet, a good many aim more for inspiration than historical
> accuracy and rely more on wishful thinking than evidence. The most
> fanciful writers fantasize that Elijah was the original Real McCoy, who
> gave rise to the expression that means "the genuine article." According
> to the fantasy, locomotive and factory machine operators demanded "real"
> McCoy products, preferring them to the pieces of junk hawked by less
> able competitors who could do no better than copy McCoy's creations.
> While the details of the story vary somewhat depending on the source,
> one thing that remains constant is a lack of evidence to back it all up.
> Never do the storytellers offer any concrete information that
> establishes a credible link between Elijah McCoy and the "Real"
> nickname. Extreme claims about McCoy lubricators dominating the market
> or becoming the industry-wide standard go unsubstantiated as well; such
> McCoy-centric historical views do not mesh with other, more reliable
> accounts of lubricator development.[8]
>
> Slang dictionaries and other linguistic publications do not support the
> notion of Elijah McCoy being the "real" one.[9] Most of them, after
> discussing one or more competing theories about how the phrase began
> (involving either a famous boxer, a clan chieftain, a cattle baron, a
> Prohibition-era rumrunner, a family feud, pure heroin from Macao, or an
> old Irish ballad) reach a conclusion similar to that of the Oxford
> English Dictionary, which says "Its origin remains uncertain."
>
> Although the ultimate source of Real McCoy may never be known, we can at
> least trace back early forms of the expression to Scotland years before
> Elijah McCoy began plying his trade. The Scottish National Dictionary
> presents an example from 1856: "A drappie o' the real McKay," meaning a
> drop of genuine Scotch whiskey.[10] The dictionary also says, "The
> phrase ['real Mackay'] was adopted as an advertising slogan by Messrs.
> G. Mackay and Co., whisky distillers of Edinburgh, in 1870 and must have
> been already current by that date." Variant spellings included Mackay,
> McCoy, and McKie (all equivalent to the Gaelic MacAoidh), with real
> McCoy eventually becoming the standard American form. Whether one or
> more specific persons named McCoy helped popularize the phrase or
> influence its spelling remains speculative.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com
> [mailto:sel-bounces at lists.stationary-engine.com] On Behalf Of Rick
> Rowlands
> Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 7:47 AM
> To: The SEL email discussion list
> Subject: Re: [SEL] McCoy Lubricator
>
> Sounds to me like you got "the Real McCoy"!  Yes this is where the
> saying
> originates from.
>
> Rick
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "James Mackessy" <jmackess at twcny.rr.com>
> To: "The SEL email discussion list" <sel at lists.stationary-engine.com>
> Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2008 10:06 AM
> Subject: Re: [SEL] McCoy Lubricator
>
>
>> Hello Brandon;
>>     I don't know if you've tried this yet or not, but if you go to the
>> "Google Search" page and check the headings, (you may have to click on
>> "MORE", and choose "Patents", you can search patents. I put in the
> words
>> "McCoy lubricator" and came up with 5 pages worth of patents by Elijah
>> McCoy, some dating back to the 1870's. The ones I looked at were
>> displacement type lubricators of varying designs. I have done a lot of
>> research using this on-line tool, and one can get a lot of clues about
>
>> where
>> people lived and who they worked for at the time of the patents. Good
> luck
>> on your research!
>> Jim Mackessy
>> Camillus Canal Society Steam Engine Project
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Brandon Newton" <timber at timbernewtoninteriors.com>
>> To: <sel at lists.stationary-engine.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 10:11 AM
>> Subject: [SEL] McCoy Lubricator
>>
>>
>> Anyone know anything about a Mccoy Lubricator? I believe I have the
> real
>> thing and have pictures for anyone
>> who may be able to help.
>> thanks in advance.
>>
>>
>> Brandon
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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