Alexander Miles
Inventor of the automatic elevator door mechanism
automatic elevator door mechanism
Why This Person Is Included
Alexander Miles invented the automatic elevator door closing mechanism in 1887 — the system that closes the door to the elevator shaft when the elevator car moves away, preventing the open shaft accidents that were a significant source of elevator-related deaths in the Gilded Age. He was one of the wealthiest Black men in Duluth, Minnesota, and ran a successful real estate and hair salon business. His inventor identity is less known than his invention's ubiquity.
Historical Significance
Miles's elevator door mechanism made passenger elevators safe enough for widespread adoption in the growing multi-story commercial buildings of American cities. The mechanism he designed — automatic closing of both elevator car door and shaft door — is the functional principle still used in modern elevators.
The Story
Alexander Miles was born around 1838, likely in Ohio or the Duluth area. He settled in Duluth, Minnesota, where he built a successful real estate business and operated a barbershop and beauty salon. He was listed in the 1890 census as one of the wealthiest Black Americans. He took out U.S. Patent No. 371,207 in 1887 for an improved elevator mechanism that automatically closed the shaft door when the elevator car moved away from a given floor.
Early passenger elevators required operators to manually close both the car door and the shaft door — a step that was sometimes skipped, resulting in people falling into open elevator shafts. Miles's mechanism connected the car's movement mechanically to the shaft door, so the door automatically closed as the car departed each floor. The mechanism eliminated the human error that caused open-shaft accidents.
Sources
- 1.Alexander Miles. National Inventors Hall of Fame. invent.org↗