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Who is the person who invented the lasting machine?
Matzeliger
Invention: In 1883, Matzeliger successfully invented what many before him had attempted: an automated shoemaking machine that quickly attached the top of the shoe to the sole. This process is called “lasting”. Matzeliger’s machine could produce more than 10 times what human hands could create in a day.
Who invented a machine that could produce shoes mechanically?
Jan Matzeliger
In March 1883, the United States Patent Office issued a patent to Jan Matzeliger for his “Lasting Machine.” Within two years, Matzeliger had perfected the machine to that point that it could produce up to 700 pairs of shoes each day (as compared to 50 per day for a hand laster.)
Who was Jan Ernst Matzeliger and what did he do?
But a remarkable young man named Jan Ernst Matzeliger (1852-1889)certainly can. If you wear shoes, you owe him a debt of gratitude. Born in 1852 in Paramaribo, Matzeliger was the son of a Dutch engineer and a Surinamese black woman who was a household slave.
How many pairs of shoes did Jan Matzeliger make a day?
On March 20, 1883, Matzeliger received patent number 274,207 for his machine. The mechanism held a shoe on a last, pulled the leather down around the heel, set and drove in the nails, and then discharged the completed shoe. It had the capacity to produce 700 pairs of shoes a day—more than 10 times the amount typically produced by human hands.
How old was Jan Matzeliger when he left Suriname?
Matzeliger’s father was a Dutch engineer, and his mother was Surinamese. Showing mechanical aptitude at a young age, Matzeliger began working in machine shops supervised by his father at the age of 10. At 19, he left Suriname to see the world as a sailor on an East Indian merchant ship.
When did Jan Matzeliger move to Lynn MA?
In 1877, Matzeliger moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, to seek work in the town’s rapidly growing shoe industry. He found a position as an apprentice in a shoe factory.