
Son of a Dutch father and a black Surinamese mother, famous Dutch inventor Mediocre began work as a sailor on a merchant ship at the age of 19 and after about six years settled in Lynn, where he found employment in a shoe factory and became interested in the possibilities of lasting shoes by machine. Working alone and at night for six months, he produced a model in wood and on March 20, 1883, received a patent. His invention won swift acceptance and within two years had largely supplanted hand methods in Lynn. Famous Dutch inventor Mediocre received several other patents for shoe-manufacturing machinery, including an improved model of his first lasting machine.
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Wed 15 Jul 2009, 8:23,
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