Jan Earnst Matzeliger

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message.
This article has been tagged since March 2006.

Jan Ernst Matzeliger was born in Paramaribo - the capital of Dutch Guiana - in 1852 (15 September). He died in 24 August 1889 in Lynn, Massachusetts, USA. HE is best known for creating the "lasting machine."

[edit] History

His father was a Dutch Engineer who married a native. He grew up working with machines when he was ten. when he was 19 he was hitched on a two year boat ride that eventually ended in Philadelphia were he got tired of the sea and decided to stay. Philadelphia was where 50% of the shoes in the US were made. Jan found himself at home with the thousands of machines and industry. He found it hard to find work though, with his little understanding of the English language and the fact that he was dark-skinned and considered a negro. Jan eventually found work as an apprentice for a shoe stitching store.

Jan was not very social in this new world. He was black and spoke only Dutch. Most churches did not accept him in their congregation and he spent most of his 37 years of his life alone.However one did accept him and he made friends there.Jan was eventually recommended by his employer to head on over to Lynn, Massachusetts, the shoe making capital. He quickly landed a job with his training and expertise with machines. He had previous experience with the shoe stitching machine. But back when Jan was working, shoes had to be made separately part by part. The upper leather or other material was stitched together and attached to the sole. This process was called “lasting”. Lasting had to be done by hand, or so they thought, in which the shoe is placed on a wooden model foot and hand sewn together. The complicated movement and positions used by lasters made it difficult to imitate by machine. Many machines have been made, but failed miserably. The whole shoe making industry relied on the lasters and very few let the technique out.

Jan however, was very curious about how a machine would be able to imitate a laster’s hand motion. He was not at all pleased about how lasters bullied the shoe making companies and made the entire industry rely on them. Many workers ran out of work because the lasters were holding up the assembly line. Jan accepted the challenge and decided to get to work on a working “Lasting Machine”.

Jan didn’t have much materials, or the money needed to make models. What Matzeliger did have was a great mind! He had to find out a way to watch the laster’s technique without them getting too suspicious. Any suspicion might lead to sabotage and ridicule to what would have revolutionized the shoe making industry. But lady luck was shining upon Matzeliger. His employer was impressed with Jan’s skill with the machines that he promoted him to a technical supervisor, giving him free reign over all parts of the factory to inspect machinery. This gave Jan the chance he needed to learn and draw all the positions and motions that lasters used to make shoes. Jan used his knowledge and what he learned from the lasters to try to envision a machine that could imitate all possible hand motions and positions to last a shoe. He spent most of his meager earnings to construct a model to try to bring the bigger picture.

Matzeliger was bombarded with jokes and ridicule for his foolish imagination, to succeed when everyone else had failed. He did get offered 50 dollars for his crude model made out of scraps. Matzeliger was in need of money and real material to further improve his model to working state, but he declined the offer and knew that at least people were interested now. This drove Matzeliger to save up more and stay up late working alone on his invention or his soon to be invention. He had to get better equipment and materials and access to a furnace to shape and mold his model together. He left his job and quickly found another, where he was able to use an abandoned furnace and had his own private ‘lab’. His model was improved, but still not quite there. He needed more funding to get better equipment and material for his model. He gave in to two business men who gave him in return for two-thirds of any profit the machine would make.

With his new business partners, Jan was able to make more models of his invention and eventually filed for a patent. His patent contained 7 explanatory drawings and 8 more pages of directions to work, maintain and use the machine. He eventually made the patent board, after demonstrating to the entire council how the machine worked before he was actually granted the patent,because of the machine's complex design. Jan Matzeliger received the patent number 274,207 on the 20th of March, 1883.

[edit] Shoe lasting machine

Matzeliger’s shoe lasting machine could produce from 150 to 700 pairs of shoes a day, compared to the human lasters who maxed around 50 pairs a day, the machines easily replaced lasters. Demand for the machine was high, and even backed by the two business men, the demand was too much to keep up with. There was not enough money and material to mass produce Matzeliger’s machine. Matzeliger decided to sell his patent out to a larger company who created the Shoe Making Trust, for a large block of stock in the new consolidated company. Jan eventually wasn’t even involved with the company anymore, his invention making millions, and him not earning anything.

Matzeliger’s design was unique and very complicated, designed to capture every movement and position just as a human laster would so there would be no flaws in the design. Matzeliger only lived up to the age of 37, when he caught a cold which added to the years of impoverished life style, quickly developed into pneumonia. Jan couldn’t afford much medical attention, and died. He left his share of the Lasting Machines Consolidated to the North Congregational Church who had originally shunned him because he was black and Dutch. This share of stock eventually helped save the church from a huge debt, and they dedicated the church to Jan Ernst Matzeliger, and his contribution to the church.

Jan’s invention itself has revolutionized the shoe making industry by removing the stress and burden of the lasters who slowed down the assembly of shoes. With Matzeliger’s machine, thousands of shoes were made daily compared to the mere hundreds. Shoes were now available to everyone and no longer sold for high prices due to supply and demand. Shoes were literally now available for everyone to buy. If it weren’t for Jan Ernst Matzeliger, shoes all over the world could be sold for easily $400 a pair.