Have you ever heard someone say, "That's the real McCoy"? It's a phrase that means, "That's the real thing, the genuine thing." Some people say that the phrase got started thanks to the work of a man who designed the machines over one hunded years ago.
Elijah McCoy was born in Canada in 1844. His parents were black Americans who had escaped a life of slavery. Remember Harriet Tubman, who helped organize the Underground Railroad as a way for slaves to escape? Elijah MacCoy's parents were among the people who made their way to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Soon after Elijah was born, his parents felt safe enough to return to a farm in Michigan.
As a boy, young Elijah was fascinated by engines. His parents sent him to Scotland at the age of fifteen to study how engines operated. When he returned to the United States,he knew a lot about mechanics and engineering. He looked for a job to apply his skills. But in those days, many people held the mistaken belief that a black man couldn't understand much about engines. So when a train company in Michigan hired Elijah MacCoy ,it gave him the job of shoveling coal into the train's engines and oiling the machinery.
In the1860's,locomotives ran by steam power. Big furnaces burned woods or coal to heat water into steam. The pressure of hot steam pushed on iron rods and got gears moving. All that hot metal moving together caused a great deal of friction. Men had to stop the trains often and climb all over the huge locomotives to oil them. But all this stopping slowed down the trains.
The problem got Elijah McCoy thinking. Maybe, he thought, someone could design a machine that would squirt oil into the locomotive's moving parts even while the train kept moving. Maybe,he thought, I'll just do it myself!
After two years of experiments, ,most locomotives,factory machines, and steam-powered ships in the United States and Europe were using McCoy's automatic lubricators. Often Elijah McCoy himself would install the lubricator and explain to engineers how to use it. As the years passed,when people took a close look at a machine and its parts, they began to ask, "Is it the real MaCoy?" They wanted to make sure that the machinery included automatic lubricators designed by Elijah McCoy, because they wanted their machines to run smoothly.
Elijah McCoy started the McCoy Manufacturing Company and invented over fifty new devices and machines. He was well known in his home of Detroit, Michigan, not only for his inventions but also for encouraging young people to apply their energy and imagination. "If you do this," he would tell them,"you can accomplish anything." Remember his advice -it's the real McCoy!
"That"s The Real McCoy. " 이 말의 유래는?
Have you ever heard someone say, "That's the real McCoy"? It's a phrase that means, "That's the real thing, the genuine thing." Some people say that the phrase got started thanks to the work of a man who designed the machines over one hunded years ago.
Elijah McCoy was born in Canada in 1844. His parents were black Americans who had escaped a life of slavery. Remember Harriet Tubman, who helped organize the Underground Railroad as a way for slaves to escape? Elijah MacCoy's parents were among the people who made their way to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Soon after Elijah was born, his parents felt safe enough to return to a farm in Michigan.
As a boy, young Elijah was fascinated by engines. His parents sent him to Scotland at the age of fifteen to study how engines operated. When he returned to the United States,he knew a lot about mechanics and engineering. He looked for a job to apply his skills. But in those days, many people held the mistaken belief that a black man couldn't understand much about engines. So when a train company in Michigan hired Elijah MacCoy ,it gave him the job of shoveling coal into the train's engines and oiling the machinery.
In the1860's,locomotives ran by steam power. Big furnaces burned woods or coal to heat water into steam. The pressure of hot steam pushed on iron rods and got gears moving. All that hot metal moving together caused a great deal of friction. Men had to stop the trains often and climb all over the huge locomotives to oil them. But all this stopping slowed down the trains.
The problem got Elijah McCoy thinking. Maybe, he thought, someone could design a machine that would squirt oil into the locomotive's moving parts even while the train kept moving. Maybe,he thought, I'll just do it myself!
After two years of experiments, ,most locomotives,factory machines, and steam-powered ships in the United States and Europe were using McCoy's automatic lubricators. Often Elijah McCoy himself would install the lubricator and explain to engineers how to use it. As the years passed,when people took a close look at a machine and its parts, they began to ask, "Is it the real MaCoy?" They wanted to make sure that the machinery included automatic lubricators designed by Elijah McCoy, because they wanted their machines to run smoothly.
Elijah McCoy started the McCoy Manufacturing Company and invented over fifty new devices and machines. He was well known in his home of Detroit, Michigan, not only for his inventions but also for encouraging young people to apply their energy and imagination. "If you do this," he would tell them,"you can accomplish anything." Remember his advice -it's the real McCoy!