Sunday, September 22, 2024

The Real McCoy?

     You know those old-fashioned drip oilers?  A cylinder of glass, clamped between two brass saucers, a needle-valve at the top and a threaded fitting at the bottom, with a nozzle and a little fiber plug so the oil goes drip, drip, drip at a slow and steady rate?  Found all over antique machinery, especially on moving parts where connection to a central oil supply would be tricky?  Common on steam engines?  Used for one of the folk entomology stories about where the phrase "the real McCoy" comes from, a "McCoy Company" being a supposed manufacturer of them?

     Amazon sells them.  A bunch of different kinds.  McMaster-Carr does, too.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I want to get some of these and make custom led lighting lamps. Just for fun. 😀

JC said...

Yeah, I know those things! Had 'em on some old ironing machines at a commercial laundry where I was plant engineer. The were supposed to lubricate a chain drive, but instead lubricated the floor. I re-rigged into a swipe kinda thing with a felt oiler. Worked fine.Good for a bonus!

Anonymous said...

Yep. They are all over the big steam-powered "tractors" as well as the big stationary steam engines used in industry and power generation.