Fthey of American slaves, McCoy is born like free citizen in the province of Ontario. Very quickly, he shows availability for mechanics, assembling for example the parts of a machine that he had previously dismantled. His parents sent him to Scotland where he received engineering training, and he returned to Michigan in the United States after the abolition of slavery.
Unable to find a job consistent with his training, he agrees to be a lubricator firefighter in a railway company. At that time, the trains had to slow down very often during the journey so that an employee walking alongside lubricated the axles and the metal wheels. This wasted time and caused employee deaths. PTo solve these problems, McCoy invented the lubricating cup, an automatic lubricating system that consistently pours lubricant during the ride and eliminates delays and endangering the lives of employees. His invention met with success throughout the country, and despite the imitations, the train companies all demanded to have the real McCoy (true McCoy), a guarantee of quality.