One way to quantify immigrantsâ contribution to the U.S. economy is to look at the wages and salaries they earn, as well as the income of immigrant-owned businesses, as a share of all wages, salaries, and business income in the United States.
Instead of taking 15 minutes to last a shoe, a sole could be attached in one minute. The efficiency of the machine resulted in mass productionâa single machine could last 700 shoes in a day, compared to 50 by a hand lasterâand lower prices. Jan Matzeliger obtained a patent for his invention in 1883. Tragically, he developed tuberculosis not long after and died at the age 37. He left his stock holdings to his friends and to the First Church of Christ in Lynn, Massachusetts. 1  Famous African American Inventors of the 19th- and Early 20th-Centuries. 2  The History of Shoes and Footwear. 3  Everything About The History of Shoes. 4  Classic Sweet and Spicy Festival Turkey Legs. 5  The Textile Revolution.
Impact on Shoe-Making. At this time the shoe industry in America was centered in Lynn, Massachusetts, and Matzeliger traveled there and eventually landed a job at a shoe factory operating a sole-sewing machine that was used to stitch different pieces of a shoe together.