Jan Ernst Matzeliger: What Did He Invent?
Jan Ernst Matzeliger was born in what is today Suriname (then Dutch Guyana) in the 1850s. His mother was an enslaved woman there and his father was his owner’s brother-in-law. Matzeliger’s mother died while he was still young and, after he was emancipated (slavery ended in Suriname in July of 1863), he eventually set sail on a ship and made his way to the United States. He eventually settled in Lynn, Massachusetts where he got an apprenticeship in a shoe-making factory.
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He quickly understood the challenges facing the manufacturing of shoes. At that time, in the 1870s and 1880s there, shoes were made from a mold of a person’s feet, this mold was called a last.
The leather part of the shoe (the upper part) was sewn together, to some extent, by steam-powered sewing machines and the soles (bottom part of the shoes) were made separately. The final part of the process required the upper part (made of leather) to be stretched over the mold and stitched, by hand, into the sole to complete the shoe.
This was difficult work and took a long time to complete. Jan Matzeliger studied the process and the movements of the hands of the “lasters.” He invented a machine that would revolutionize the process.
He described this invention in his patent:
“The object of it is to perform by machinery and in a more expeditious and economical manner the operations which have heretofore been performed by hand.
My invention includes the mechanism for holding the last (or mold) in place and allowing it to be turned and the last fed forward in proper position for the operation of the machine. It includes a feeding device for moving the last step by step at a proper distance, whereby the mechanism for drawing over the leather may operate successively and at proper intervals. It includes pinchers or gripping mechanism for drawing the upper over the last, mechanism for turning the gripping mechanism in order to plait the leather at the heel or toe, mechanism for holding the last in proper position for the operation of the feeding mechanism, mechanism for feeding the nails and holding them in proper position to be driven, and mechanism for driving the nails at the proper instant.”
The invention was so detailed and intricate that the patent office sent a representative to Lynn, Massachusetts to see the machine in action and on March 20, 1883 Jan Matzeliger was granted a patent for the lasting machine.
It did indeed make an impact on the shoe manufacturing industry…where at one time an experienced worker could turn out 50 shoes a day, now with his machine (and improvements made to it), a single machine could make up to 700 shoes per day.
This technology made many more shoes available and affordable, to the average worker, through the laws of supply and demand and it was a windfall to the shoe making industry.
Further reading and references:
Curry, Sheree R., “Black History Heroes: How inventor Jann Ernst Matzeliger made modern footwear accessible.” USA Today, accessed online March 2023.
“Jan Matzeliger: Inventor,” Smithsonian National Postal Museum, accessed online March 2023.
“Jan Matzeliger: Lasting Machine,” Lemelson - MIT, Computing and Telecommunications, accessed online March 2023.
Lienhard, John H., “No. 522: Jan Matzeliger.” Engines of our Ingenuity. University of Houston. Accessed online March 2023.
“Matzeliger Demonstrates Revolutionary Machine: May 29, 1885,” Mass Moments: A project of massHumanities, accessed online March 2023.