E. Martin Pearson was born in Sweden in 1856. After settling in Minnesota, Pearson began a career as an inventor. In 1892 he patented a steam heating apparatus, but his most successful invention was the odd-looking gadget called a shingle nailer. The earliest version of his portable nailing machine was patented in 1892 by the Martin Pearson Manufacturing Co. of Robbinsdale. Pearson claimed that his invention was inspired by watching exasperated roofers lining up nails on steep pitches. In 1906, Pearson patented an improvement upon his earlier model.
This special tool was made of metal with a leather striking plunger, which the carpenter would hit with a hammer. Inside was a hopper that held several dozen nails. The nails were funneled down into a slot where they were stopped and controlled by parallel spring hooks. When the plunger was struck with a hammer, the springs were spread, driving the nail halfway into place. Another spring forced the plunger to retract, and as it did, the next nail was released into position. The carpenter could set several nails in a row before hammering them in.
Pearson’s Automatic Shingle Nailer was advertised as not only a time saver but also a finger saving device. There was nothing else like it being manufactured at the time. Pearson held events in local theaters and invited people to bring their hammers and try one out. In 1914 the demand was so far above production that Pearson was usually months behind on orders.
Pearson manufactured his nailers at various locations, sometimes with the backing of his business partner P.J. Linde. The above letter from Pearson & Linde to a prospective customer in 1905 set forth the terms of the sale.
A 1924 newspaper advertisement lists the business address as 4306 Marston Avenue. Marston was renamed Perry Avenue North a couple of years later. Pearson sold his nailers by mail order in the U.S. and Canada until the 1930s. E. Martin Pearson passed away at the age of 84 in 1940. He’s buried with many of Robbinsdale’s leading citizens in the Brooklyn-Crystal Cemetery.