Jan Ernst Matzeliger was an African-American inventor in the shoe industry.
Jan Ernst Matzeliger (September 15, 1852 – August 24, 1889)
Matzeliger was born September 15, 1852, in Paramaribo, Suriname, to a father who was a Dutch engineer and a mother who was a black Surinamese slave.
At the age of 10, Matzeliger began working in machine shops under his father’s guidance, until leaving his hometown of Suriname to be a sailor on an East Indian merchant ship, where he later settled in Philadelphia.
As a dark-skinned man, his options were limited, and he struggled to make a living in Philadelphia. In 1877, Matzeliger moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, to seek work in the town’s growing shoe industry. He found a position as an apprentice in a shoe factory, learning the Cordwaining trade, which involved crafting shoes almost entirely by hand.
Cordwainers made molds of customer’s feet called “lasts,” with wood or stone. The shoes were then sized and shaped according to the molds. The process of shaping and attaching the body of the shoe to its sole was done entirely by hand with “hand lasters.”
Matzeliger knew there had to be a easier way to make lasting shoes, so he set out to find a solution to the problems he faced during the shoemaking process. He began coming up with designs for machines that could do the job. After experimenting with several models, he applied for a patent on a “lasting machine”.
Jan Ernst Matzeliger “Lasting Machine”
On March 20, 1883, Matzeliger received patent number 274,207 for his invention. The lasting machine was an immediate success. His lasting machine could produce between 150 – 700 pairs of shoes daily, whereas handcrafted shoes could only produce 50 pair within 10 hours.
In 1991, the United States government issued a “Black Heritage” postage stamp in Matzeliger’s honor to recognize his major contribution to the shoe industry.
Source: Biography
❤
