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May 2 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating Black Canadian-American engineer and inventor Elijah McCoy, who made great strides in improving train efficiency, with a new Doodle. Google's homepage features moving artwork of McCoy thinking with a pencil to his chin. A train also travels around him in a circle.
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McCoy's parents escaped slavery in Kentucky through the Underground Railroad in 1837 and relocated to Canada. McCoy was born in Colchester, Ontario and grew up with a passion for mechanics and trains.
The inventor moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, to become a mechanical engineer apprentice. McCoy then settled in Michigan but had trouble finding a job that matched his experience in 1866 due to racial discrimination in the U.S.
McCoy joined the Michigan Central Railroad are a fireman and oiler. He later invented the oil-drip cup, which helped oil steadily flow around a train's engine without having to stop the train every few miles.
McCoy then obtained his first patent titled Improvement in Lubricators for Steam Engines. The invention was later used to revolutionize oil-drilling, mining equipment and construction and factory tools.
The engineer held 57 patents in his lifetime including patents for a lawn sprinkler and ironing board. He later started the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company in 1920 and made lubrication devices that featured his name.
McCoy was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame located in Akron, Ohio in 2001 and has a dedicated exhibit in the Detroit Historical Museum.
