One machine that had a significant impact in industrializing shoe production was the lasting machine, which enabled people to pull leather over lasts using machinery something many had believed impossible before it came along.
Throughout the 1800s, new machines capable of managing various aspects of footwear manufacturing began appearing regularly, such as cutting machines and sewing machines such as the Blake machine and Goodyear sewing machine. Though initially met with great skepticism, more manufacturers soon adopted machine solutions for more and more elements of production and eventually even most factories had machinery for all major aspects. No machine could do what humans did so effectively and efficiently, with manual workers still pulling uppers over and nailing them on to lasts by hand. No one thought there would ever be another way how any machine could duplicate this process?
Suriname in northern South America is the continent’s smallest nation and was known as Dutch Guiana prior to achieving independence in 1975. Here Jan E. Matzeliger was born, the son of both Surinamese parents. His father ran a shop selling various machines, which ignited Jan’s technical interests. At 19, he took off to sea as a saolor before making landfall in New England specifically Lynn, Massachusetts at age 22. As a Black, non English speaker and struggling to secure employment it was difficult for him to secure stable work, so he primarily took up different laboring services before eventually landing an apprenticeship at Harney Brothers Shoe Factory in Lynn. He worked ten hours per day at the factory, spending evenings learning English in evening classes. Most items made in this factory were produced using machinery, however, most would eventually break. Jan Matzeliger realized the difficulty this part of production presented, as well as their impact on other workers (lasters were known to often go on strike and put pressure on factory owners over various issues), and decided on creating a machine capable of handling this aspect of shoemaking.
His experiments lasted several years in order to create the machine he needed for this specific purpose. He made use of materials left over from working at his factory job in an effort to find an answer for its creation. After several years in the 1880s, Matzeliger submitted his patent application to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but due to its intricate drawings they could not process it and had to visit him personally to see how his machine operated. Jan E. Matzeliger earned the patent for his lasting machine in 1883. This machine pulled uppers over lasts, held them securely, and applied nails that fastened leather securely to lasts. Matzeliger’s machine could produce 200-700 pairs a day compared to 50 pairs a day that were normally produced by skilled workers, thus approximately halving consumer shoe costs. Many consider Matzeliger’s invention a major milestone in shoe production, yet his contributions received little notice or mention until relatively recently due to his skin color. Unfortunately, Jan Matzeliger died young, just 36 years old in 1889 due to tuberculosis.
Before his passing, his patent had been sold to the Consolidated Lasting Machine Company, founded by some of his investors who purchased his machine. It quickly expanded, merging in late 1889 with several other shoe machine makers to form United Shoe Machinery Company which soon dominated the market with its comprehensive machine park solutions.
Today’s lasting machines are highly advanced machines equipped with arms to grab and pull uppers over lasts. You can set them in many ways to adapt them for each last used, additionally there are machines which steam bath leather prior to lasting for improved results though many factory made ready to wear shoes still use lasting machines. Almost all factory made shoes produced after 2008 are machine lasted (with some notable exceptions).
