![]() The process of shaping and attaching the body of the shoe to its sole was done entirely by hand with "hand lasters." This was considered the most difficult and time-consuming stage of assembly. The shoes were then sized and shaped according to the molds. Matzeliger learned the cordwaining trade, which involved crafting shoes almost entirely by hand.Ĭordwainers made molds of customers' feet, called "lasts," with wood or stone. ![]() He found a position as an apprentice in a shoe factory. In 1877, Matzeliger moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, to seek work in the town's rapidly growing shoe industry. As a dark-skinned man, his professional options were limited, and he struggled to make a living in Philadelphia. Invention of the Lasting MachineĪfter settling in the United States, Matzeliger worked for several years to learn English. At 19, he left Suriname to see the world as a sailor on an East Indian merchant ship. Showing mechanical aptitude at a young age, Matzeliger began working in machine shops supervised by his father at the age of 10. Matzeliger's father was a Dutch engineer, and his mother was Surinamese. Jan Ernst Matzeliger was born on September 15, 1852, in Paramaribo, Suriname -known at the time as Dutch Guiana. He died of tuberculosis on August 24, 1889. In 1883, he patented a shoe lasting machine that increased the availability of shoes and decreased the price of footwear. Jan Matzeliger settled in the United States in 1873 and trained as a shoemaker.
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