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Jan Matzeliger, thanks to his invention that made it easy for ordinary citizens to afford a pair of shoes

He was offered $50.00 to sell the device he created, but he turned them down.

By Africa GiantPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Jan Matzeliger designed a machine to increase the production of shoes, therefore making it easy for ordinary citizens to purchase one.

The African Giant was born in Dutch Guiana, South America, the same place his mother, who is from an African heritage was also born. Furthermore, his father was a Dutch engineer and was sent by the government to Surinam to organize the work going on in the South American Country.

Early in Jan’s life, he exhibited an impressive skill of repairing sophisticated machinery very often, mostly when escorting his father to the factory. When he was 19, he embarked on a journey to explore a different area of the world. (blackinventor.com)

During the course of the journey, he worked abroad for two years in an East Indian Merchant ship, therefore, he was privileged to visit many countries.

He lived in the United States for a period of time, even when he could not speak English fluently. However, he had support from some African American friends who were active in the local church and took it upon themselves to help him. As a result of his talent in handling machinery, he got a small job to earn a living.

At a certain point in his life, he worked for a cobbler and surprisingly, started gaining interest in the profession. Together, they were so good that they even produced more than half of the shoes used in the United State at a small town in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Matzeliger did not speak English fluently and so found it difficult to get a job in Lynn, Massachusetts. As time passed, he got another job where he worked as a shoe apprentice in a shoe factory.

A Mckay sole sewing machine was used to fasten different parts of shoes together, however no machine at that time was discovered that could fasten the upper part of a shoe to it’s sole, therefore, this had to be done manually.

People who carried out this type of sewing were called hand lasters, and the experienced amongst them could sew up to 50 shoes in 10 hours. Furthermore, they were held in high esteem and controlled the market price.

They also banded and joined a union called shoemakers Company and this made them dominate the shoemaking business. Consequently, they inflated the price, and made shoes very expensive. Jan Matzeliger was not happy about the price inflation and decided to do something about it.

After working for hours, he received extra lessons at night to learn more about English. Therefore, with time he understood the language better and was able to read physics and mechanical science. As a result, he gained vast knowledge of different ideas and inventions. However, insufficient funds crippled his ability to bring his ideas to life.

He watched other scientists receive financial rewards as they create new inventions, knowing that he could be one of them. Matzeliger did not lose interest and was still thinking about how to make a more significant machine that could carry out the job of a shoe master.

Observing hand lasters as they worked, he began to understand the technicality involved in joining shoes to their soles. At home, he sat down and made sketches that could work in exchange for hand lasters.

Shortly, he commenced setting together a simple functioning prototype of his invention. Lacking the right materials, he improvised using scraps like cigar boxes, wood, scrap wire, nails and paper. Consequently, in six months, he knew he was on the right path of his invention but still needed more sophisticated materials to proceed to the next step.

Matzeliger tried to keep his invention a secret, but people got to know about it, including the expert hand lasters.

Some groups of individuals offered him $50.00 to sell the device he created, but he turned them down. He knew he was on the right part as people offered to buy his invention.

As time went by, more features were added to his invention, and people began to show more interest. $1,500.00 was then offered for his machine, but like the previous offers, he turned it down. Matzeliger could not bring himself to sell his invention even though he needed money.

Later on, he partnered with two investors and sold 66% of his devices and held the remaining 3rd part of his invention. With this deal, he got enough money to complete both the second and third models. Getting this far, he applied for protection for his device.

Matzeliger’s device was so complex that patent examiners made a request to see it in operation to understand it.

The patent office he applied to couldn’t believe that a machine could take the place of a shoe laster, therefore they sent a representative to Lynn, Massachusetts to inspect the mechine. Impressed, the United States issued a patient to Jan Matizeliger for his invention on March 1883.

In just two years he perfected his model to a point that it could produce 700 pairs of shoes per day.

Unfortunately, Matzeliger did not live long to enjoy his hard work. He was affected with tuberculosis in 1886 and died on August 24, 1889, at an early age of 37.

Although his life was short-lived, his machine has created more job opportunities and competition among shoe laser specialists by reducing the price of shoes significantly. Thanks to the African Giant, the common man can afford a pair of shoes.

Source: (blackinventor.com) (myblackhistory.net) (invent.org)

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