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Jan Ernest
Matzeliger |
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Jan Matzeliger is the man who invented the shoe machine. He was born on
September 15, 1852 in South America. He came to the U.S.A. in 1873. Jan
worked in his dad's shop when he was 10 years old. His father worked as a
Dutch engineer. Before Jan's invention, people could hardly get shoes.
Working in a shoe factory gave Jan the idea of a machine. People laughed at him when he decided to make the shoe machine that did more then people could ever do. His machine could make from 300 to 700 pairs of shoes in a ten hour day. A person could only make 50 pairs of shoes in a ten hour day. The first model that Jan made was made out of cigar boxes. He made another model out of metal scraps. Many people tried to buy Jan's idea but he always said no. It was his idea and he was going to keep it that way. He got a patent in 1883 which gave him the right for only him to be able to make and sell the machine. Because he had to save money for his machine, he would not eat or keep healthy. Jan died on August 24, 1889. He was only 36 at the time. In 1992 the U.S. government made a postage stamp in honer of Jan's great invention. Bibliography |
| Constructed By, Sharea Cooper |
