Jan Matzeliger
By
John C Abercrombie
Today we take shoes for granted. Almost everybody has several pair, but this was not always the case. The cost of a pair of shoes was out of reach of most people because of the cost of the labor to make them.
Making shoes was labor intensive, meaning that a high percentage of the cost was due to the labor to produce them. It was costly to attach the top part of the soles as it was done completely by hand.
The cost and availability of shoes changed dramatically on March 20, 1883 when the shoe industry was revolutionized by the granting of patent #274,202 a machine that changed the labor-intensive process of making shoes.
The patent was granted to Jan Ernst Matzeliger for a machine that increased the production from 50 pair that could be produced by a skilled craftsman to 700 pair using this machine.
The machine held a shoe on a last. A last was essentially a substitute for a person’s foot in size and shape. The machine held a shoe on a last, pulled the leather around the heel and drove in nails to complete the shoe. This was a very complex machine.
Here we will look at the man, Jan Matzeliger, and his life and development of the incredible machine.
Matzeliger was born in Dutch Guiana, September 15, 1852. The country is now known as Suriname. Officially the name is the Republic of Suriname, a country on the Northeastern Atlantic, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the North, French Guiana on the East, Guyana on the West and Brazil on the South.
His father was a Dutch engineer, and his mother was a woman of African heritage and a slave of his father’s family.
As a youth, Jan began to show a mechanical aptitude and apprenticed in the Colonial Ship works in a machine shop supervised by his father at the age of 10. The mechanical aptitude and experience that he gained working in the shop served him well later in life.
At the age of 19, he left Suriname to see the world and hired on as a mechanic on an East Indian merchant ship before settling in Philadelphia in 1873. At the time he settled in America, he was a talented mechanic but did not speak much English, had few friends. When he attempted to attend church, he was turned away because of his dark skin color.
Because of his skin color, he also found work difficult to obtain. However, he did get employment in the shoe trade and by 1877 spoke English. He moved to Massachusetts the heart of the shoe industry to pursue his interest in the shoe business. He was finally hired by the Harney Brothers Shoe factory a major employer in the industry.
The process of creating a pair of shoes involved creating a stone or wooden mod called a “last” which was a duplicate of the customer’s feet. The shoes were sized and shaped to fit the customer’s foot.
The most difficult part of shoe manufacture was the assembly of the sole to the upper part of the shoe. It was thought that there was no way a machine could perform such a skilled and complicated process. Other parts of the manufacture were done with machines, but this was thought to be just too complicated until Matzeliger set about doing it. Even then people laughed at him for even attempting to develop such a machine.
Another person attempting to develop the same type machine to attach the uppers to the soles was so impressed by the incomplete machine that offered to buy the incomplete machine. Matzeliger refused this offer, but later took on 2 partners, keeping one third interest.
When Matzeliger applied for the patent, it was so complicated in its operation that the patent office sent a representative to view and confirm that it was indeed a workable model and did what it claimed.
Using odds and ends, ingenuity and determination after 5 years, Matzeliger obtained a patent for his automated shoe laster in 1883.
The machine revolutionized the shoe industry not only in Massachusetts, but around the world. There were even schools set up to teach operation of the machine.
While we owe a lot to Matzeliger and his invention, he never saw the full benefits of his hard work. In August of 1889, he caught cold which developed into tuberculosis. He died from the disease 3 weeks short of his 37th birthday.
Matzeliger sacrificed his health working exhausting hours on his invention and not eating over long periods of time. He caught a cold which quickly developed into tuberculosis.[1] His early death in Lynn, Massachusetts from this disease meant he never saw the full profit of his invention. He died on August 24, 1889; three weeks shy of his 37th birthday.
As you have seen from the story of Jan Ernst Matzeliger, America is great because we attract the most brilliant minds, and they have the opportunity to prosper here. So, do you!
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In Jan Matzeliger we find a person who saw a problem and came up with a solution that has revolutionized the world of shoe manufacturing. His invention lowered the cost of shoes which up to the time of his discovery had to be crafted entirely by hand, thereby making them expensive. The solution was a machine so complicated that many did not believe it possible. This shows the power of the mind to function beyond what others believe. If you believe in yourself, you have no limits. Don’t let anyone else determine the limits of your capabilities!