came to America as a young man and worked as
a cobbler in Philadelphia and Lynn. He died in
1889 before he had realized the value of his
invention.
Matzeliger invented a machine for lasting shoes. It held the shoe on the last, gripped and pulled the leather down around the sole and heel, guided and drove the nails into place and released a completed shoe from the machine. This patent was bought by Mr. Winslow and on it was built the great United Shoe Machinery Company, which now has a capital stock of more than twenty million dollars, and employs over 5,000 operatives in factories covering 20 acres of ground. This business enterprise is one of the largest in our country’s industrial development. Since the formation of this company in 1890, the product of American shoe factories has increased from $200,000,000 to $552,631,000, and the exportation of American shoes from $1,000,000 to $11,000,000.
This development is due to the superiority of the shoes produced by machines founded on the original Matzeliger type.[1] The cost of shoes has been cut in half, the quality greatly improved, the wages of workers increased,
- ↑ Prior to the Matzeliger machine the McKay machine was patented, designed for making the heaviest and cheapest kind of men’s shoes. The Matzeliger machine was designed for light work, women’s shoes, etc., and was the most important invention necessary to the formation of the United Shoe Machinery Company.
