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[[image - black & white photograph of Jan Matzeliger]]
[[caption]] Jan Matzeliger.[[/caption]]

JAN MATZELIGER
1852-1889
Inventor

The shoe-lasting machine invented by Jan Matzeliger, a Negro from Dutch Guiana, not only revolutionized the shoe industry, but also made Lynn, Massachusetts the "shoe capital of the world." 

Born in  Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana on September 15, 1852, Matzeliger found employment in the government machine works at the age of 10. Eight years later, he immigrated to the United States, settling at first in Philadelphia, where he worked in a shoe factory and learned the trade.  He then left for New England, settling permanently in Lynn.

The Industrial Revolution then in progress in the United States had by this time resulted in the invention of a number of machines to cut, sew, and tack shoes, but none had been perfected to last a shoe. Seeing this, Matzeliger lost little time in designing and patenting just such a device, one which he refined over the years to such a point that it was able to adjust a shoe, arrange the leather over the sole, drive in the nails, and deliver the finished product - all in one minute's time.  

Matzeliger's patent was subsequently bought by Sydney W. Winslow who established the United Shoe Machine Company, a multi-million dollar concern. The continued success of this business brought about a 50% reduction in the price of shoes across the nation, doubled wages, and improved working conditions for millions of people dependent on the shoe industry for their livelihood. 

Matzeliger died in the summer of 1889 long before he had had the chance to realize a share of the enormous profit derived from his invention. 



[[image - black & white photograph of Elijah J. McCoy]]
[[caption]] Elijah J. McCoy.[[/caption]]
 
ELIJAH McCOY
1844-1928?
Inventor

Elijah McCoy's inventions were primarily connected with the automatic lubrication of moving machinery. Perhaps his most valuable design was that of the "drip cup," a tiny container filled with oil whose flow to the essential moving parts of heavy-duty machinery was regulated by means of a "stopcock."  The drip cup was a key device in perfecting the overall lubrication system used in large industry today. 

Born in Canada in 1844, McCoy established residence in Ypsilanti, Michigan after the Civil War and, over the next 40 years, acquired some 57 patents for devices designed to streamline his automatic lubrication process. 

McCoy is believed to have died in 1928.  

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