Just wanted to share this story with everyone. I find it inspirational.
Jan Ernst Matzeliger
"He Made Shoes to Last"
There once was a time when most people could not buy shoes. Shoes were expensive because it took a long time to make each pair.
Jan Ernst Matzeliger changed that. He invented a machine that made shoes quickly and cheaply.
Jan was born September 15, 1852, in South America. When he was a boy, Jan worked in his father's shop, workers made metal tools, ornaments, and containers. Jan learned how to use the lathe machine that cut and shaped the metal.
During his free time, he would go down to the river and watch the ships. He would dream about sailing out to sea.
At the age of 19, Jan became a seaman. He sailed on a ship to the Far East. Two years later, in 1873, the ship landed in the United States in the city of Philadelphia. There, Jan tried to find a job as a machine operator. But every machine shop he went to turned him away. Jan was sad but he kept looking. Finally, he was hired by a shoemaker.
Jan learned to operate the McKay machine. It sewed leather together to make the soles of shoes. Jan was good at operating this machine. He wanted to learn more about shoe-making.
In 1877, Jan moved to Lynn, Massachusettes. The city was called the "shoe industry capital of the world." Most of the people there worked for shoe companies. After days of looking for a job, Jan was hired at the Harney Brothers factory.
Jan liked all the different machines. Some cut and sewed the upper parts of the shoes. Some attached the upper parts of the shoes to the soles. Others made buttonholes.
The hardest part of the shoe-making was connecting the upper part to the innersole. This step is called lasting. It had to be done by hand. The leather had to be stretched over a wooden model of a foot called a last. Then the finished shape had to be tacked into place onto the sole. There was no machine to do this important work.
Jan decided he was going to invent such a machine. People laughed when they heard Jan was trying to make a machine that could last shoes. Other workers had tried and failed. No one can make that kind of machine, they thought. They made awful jokes about Jan.
By the fall of 1880, Jan had made a model of his machine from cigar boxes. He was sure that once his model was made into a real machine, it would work. Another inventor who was working on the same idea offered Jan $50.00 for it. Fifty dollars was a lot of money in those days and Jan was very poor. But he said no.
Jan needed to use a forge and a lathe machine to make his invention from metal. A forge is a furnace where metal is heated. Then the metal is hammered and bent into the shape on the lather machine. The Harney Brothers didn't have either machine. So Jan went to work for the Beal Company. This company let him use their forge and lathe.
By 1882, Jan had made a model out of scrap metal. It lasted shoes perfectly. Jan had done what others had said was impossible. Jan knew, however, that this machine made from scap metal could not work for long before falling apart. He would have to make a machine with new metal parts. Once again, another inventor offered to buy Jan's invention. This time Jan was offered $1500.00. Again he said no.
Two businessmen gave Jan the money he needed to make his new machine. In return, they would receive two-thirds of any money that Jan might make. The three men formed the Union Lasting Machine Company.
On March 20. 1883, Jan was given a patent from the United States government for his new lasting machine. The patent is a special certificate. It gives the inventor the right to be the only one to make and sell an important invention.
Jan's invention could last from 300 to 700 pairs of shoes in a ten-hour workday. One person doing the same work by hand could only finish 50 pairs of shoes in that time. Soon, many shoe companies wanted Jan's invention.
Jan and his business partners didn't have enough money to fill the large number of orders for the lasting machine. New business partners took over Jan's company. They formed a bigger company called the Consolidated Lasting Machine Company. Jan was given a share of the company.
In the years that followed, Jan's invention made many other people very rich.
On August 24, 1889, Jan died. His great invention had changed the shoe industry and made shoes available to all people.
In 1992, the United States government printed a special postage stamp to honor this great inventor.
Your friend.
Lloyd Cope
JUST REMEMBER THIS. "Many people laughed at Jan."
But Jan made many people rich.
Something to think about.