Year: 1883

Who: Jan Matzeliger

Where: Paramaribo, Suriname

In 1883, Jan Ernst Matzeliger revolutionized the shoe industry with his invention of the automated shoe-lasting machine. Born on September 15, 1852, in Paramaribo, Suriname, Matzeliger demonstrated an early aptitude for mechanics, apprenticing in his father's shipyard from the age of ten. After immigrating to the United States at 19, he worked diligently to mechanize the shoe-lasting process, significantly enhancing efficiency and affordability in footwear manufacturing.

Matzeliger's machine could produce between 150 and 700 pairs of shoes daily, a remarkable increase from the 50 pairs a skilled hand laster could manage in a ten-hour day. This innovation not only transformed the shoe industry by reducing costs but also highlighted Matzeliger's ingenuity and understanding of industrial processes.

Despite his untimely death from tuberculosis at age 36, Matzeliger's legacy endures. He was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2006, and a U.S. postal stamp was issued in his honor in 1991. His story underscores the profound impact of innovation and serves as an inspiration for future generations in engineering and manufacturing.

Sources:

Websites:

• Biography.com Editors. (2020, June 24). Jan Matzeliger. Biography. https://www.biography.com/inventors/jan-matzeliger

• National Inventors Hall of Fame. (n.d.). Jan Ernst Matzeliger. National Inventors Hall of Fame. https://www.invent.org/inductees/jan-ernst-matzeliger