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Over time shoes and the process of making shoes has greatly evolved. The first shoes were simply pieces of plaited grass or rawhides strapped to the feet. Over the centuries, shoes have become more stylish and elaborate. Jan Ernst Matzeliger's invention, the shoe lasting machine has been called the most important invention for New England. The invention of the shoe lasting machine revolutionized the shoe industry and made Lynn, Massachusetts, the shoe capital of the world.
This black inventor was born on Sept. 15, 1852, in Paramaribo, (Dutch Guiana) South America. There are rumors that his father and mother were farmers. However, others say that his father was a Dutch engineer and his mother a black slave. Regardless of his background, Jan went to work with his father at a government machine shop at the age of 10. While working in the machine shop, Jan Ernst first developed an understanding and interest in machinery, but he didn't pursue this interest at the time. At age 19, he got a job on an East Indian Merchant ship and spent a few years at sea. In 1876 he moved to Boston after hearing about the rapid growth of the shoe industry in Massachusetts. A year later he settled in nearby Lynn, where he worked for a shoe manufacturing company.
In 1845 the Rolling machine became the first machine invented to automate shoemaking to come into use. It replaced the lap stone and hammer previously used by hand shoemakers for pounding sole leather. Following this, the sewing machine was invented which set off a chain reaction of research and development that would change the industry. The old process involved the centuries old lasting method where the customer's feet had to be duplicated by creating a stone or wooden mold. The upper shoe then had to be stitched to the sole by hand. The highly skilled shoe lasters held great power over the industry and often-held work stoppages (better known today as strikes) with little regard to the long periods of unemployment for their co-workers. It is said that the Matzlinger’s motivation in creating the machine was to remedy the situation the shoe lasters caused. Nevertheless, his invention made the self-centered hand lasters obsolete, increasing shoe production from 50 to 150-700 pairs of shoes a day.
Inventing the shoe lasting machine was not an easy task. Matzeliger’s first obstacle, which he quickly overcame, was to learn enough English to get a job. Being a black man and a foreigner, he was shunned by the community, and had only a few friends in town. He was a devout Christian, and was eventually accepted into The North Congregational Church as part of a youth group. He taught Sunday school at the church later in his life. Many of the other churches in the area had turned him away due to racism. He worked on his invention alone, often at night and for several years, with no professional or financial support, while neglecting his health. People in the industry ridiculed him when word got out that a 25-year-old black sailor was working on a machine that could automatically make shoes. Previously, thousands of dollars had already been invested and the “greatest minds” in the industry had worked on the process of automating shoemaking with no success. What made a young lack foreigner think he could do it? They insisted.
When he finally applied for a patent, the reviewers in Washington DC found the plans to complicated to understand on paper. They were so complicated that a man was dispatched to Lynn Massachusetts to see the model in person. Patent number 274,207 was finally granted on March 20, 1883 to Jan E. Matzeliger. The Shoe lasting machine gained swift acceptance in the industry, and by 1885 making shoes by machine had become the norm. By 1889 the demand of the shoe lasting machine was overwhelming. The Consolidated Lasting Machine Company was formed, and Matzeliger was given huge blocks of stock for his invention. In the following years, Matzeliger received several other patents for shoe-manufacturing machinery, including an improved model of his first machine that could adjust the shoe, arrange the leather over the sole, drive in the nails, and deliver the finished product in one minute's time.
Eventually, Sydney W. Winslow, who established the United Shoe Machine Company, purchased Matzeliger’s patent. The final result was a 50% reduction in the price of shoes across the nation, doubled wages, and improved working conditions for the industries laborers. 65 years later, the company was worth one billion dollars. Unfortunately, due to his deteriorated health caused by exhaustion and poor nutrition, a cold quickly developed into tuberculosis and Matzeliger died at age 37, on August 24, 1887.
There are no records of marriage or children, and Jan Matzeliger had little contact with his parents while in the United States. He left all of his money to the church. Because his skin color, information on Jan Ernst Matzeliger and his invention was only recently added to the history books, and what little information can be found is often sketchy.
Even a thorough search on the history of shoes gives full credit of the automation of the shoe industry to Lyman R Blake. Though Mr. Blake designed shoes that could be made by machine as well as introducing shoe sewing machines and interchangeable parts to allow for style changes, it was years later before the final obstacle of lasting the shoe to the sole would be discovered and patented. Mr. Blake began the mechanizing of the shoe industry while Mr. Matzeliger completed it.
Information sources:
Encyclopedia Britannica
Invention.org "How American Shoes are made”
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