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Patent holder profile

Elijah McCoy and the Steam-Engine Lubricator Patent

McCoy's first patent profile starts with steam-engine lubrication, rail infrastructure, and industrial labor rather than phrase folklore.

Why this belongs on CultureUp

McCoy is a public-record memory story.

McCoy belongs here because steam-engine lubrication is infrastructure memory: machinery, rail work, maintenance, and safety.

Unique holder rank 11 / grant rank 13Status: publish_readySource grade: A-

Patent: 129843: Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines
Issue date: 1872-07-23
Place: Ypsilanti, Michigan
Record strength: A- patent-record strength with a clear industrial-infrastructure lane.
Identity evidence: Publishable as a patent-record profile; broader biography and phrase history should stay source-separated.
Why this record matters: McCoy helps readers see Black inventorship inside rail, steam, machinery, and labor-safety infrastructure.

What the public record supports

U.S. Patent No. 129843, issued July 23, 1872.
Patent text connects McCoy to Ypsilanti, Michigan, and steam-engine lubricators.

What remains open

Phrase-history claims need separate evidence.
Commercial and assignment trail should be expanded before broad impact claims.

Article profile

Read the person, place, invention, and record separately.

CultureUp keeps each layer visible so a patent record does not get stretched into claims the source trail cannot support.

The patent record

The patent text identifies Elijah McCoy of Ypsilanti, Michigan, and an improvement in lubricators for steam engines issued July 23, 1872.

The person in the record

This profile starts with the patent row and points toward a fuller industrial biography only where future sources support it.

Place attached to the claim

Ypsilanti anchors the record and ties the profile to Michigan industrial and rail memory.

The invention

Lubrication mattered because steam machinery required reliable movement, maintenance, and reduced friction under industrial conditions.

Business, labor, and use

The patent does not by itself prove all manufacturing, assignment, users, or labor networks around the invention.

What the record cannot prove

The patent cannot prove phrase origins, complete biography, market impact, or every later use of McCoy's work.

Patent records

Grant trail

Grant rank and unique-holder rank are shown separately so repeat patentees do not distort the chronological sequence.

Grant rank 13Holder rank 11utility patentmedium high

129843: Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines

Elijah McCoy / 1872-07-23

Patent row supports an industrial infrastructure profile; CultureUp avoids phrase folklore unless sourced separately.

Residence: Ypsilanti, Michigan
Category: steam engines / rail infrastructure
Source status: medium high
Primary sources: 2 mapped

Source trail

Claims stay tied to source limits.

Patent record

Patent text, case-file context, or patent-image trails that can support inventor, title, number, date, place, and claim language.

patent text mirrorpatent text

US129843A - Improvement in Lubricators for Steam-Engines

Google Patents / 1872 patent record

Supports: Shows Elijah McCoy of Ypsilanti, Michigan, connected to a steam-engine lubricator patent issued July 23, 1872.
Limit: Use the patent row for industrial-infrastructure context; do not reduce McCoy to phrase folklore or commercial claims without separate sources.
Last checked: 2026-06-09
Source URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/US129843A/en

Identity evidence

Institutional profiles, Baker/Murray recovery context, or public source trails that support careful Black patentee language without private proof.

official historical essayrecovery-project context

Found on Baker's list

United States Patent and Trademark Office / 2022

Supports: Connects Henry E. Baker's recovery project, George Washington Murray's Congressional Record list, and the problem that the Patent Office did not and still does not collect demographic data.
Limit: Baker's list is a recovery starting point, not a complete census of Black inventors.
Last checked: 2026-06-08
Source URL: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/journeys-innovation/historical-stories/found-bakers-list