Elijah McCoy

The son of former slaves, Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester, Canada.  When Elijah was three years old his family moved to Detroit, and it was there that he spent most of his life.  A prolific inventor, he was credited by Booker T. Washington for having filed the most patents of any African American in history up through his day, and accumulated 57 over the course of his life.  His most significant invention was the lubricating cup, which automatically dripped oil onto a train's axles, bearings and other moving parts at regular intervals.  Among his other notable inventions are a folding ironing board and a lawn sprinkler.

McCoy died October 10, 1929 in the Eloise Infirmary in Detroit, and was interred at Detroit Memorial Park East in Warren, Michigan.

McCoy's lubricating cup technology was frequently pirated, and the desire for the authentic product is one of the competing sources for the phrase "real McCoy."

References:

About.com profile
Biography.com profile
The Engineering Daily
Lemelson-MIT bio