Alexander Miles facts for kids
Alexander Miles (born May 18, 1838 – died May 7, 1918) was an amazing inventor and businessman. He was African American. He is most famous for getting a patent for elevator doors that could open and close by themselves. This patent, US patent 371207, was given to him on October 11, 1887.
Contents
Alexander Miles's Life Story
Alexander Miles was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, near Circleville, Ohio, in 1838. His parents were Michael and Mary Miles. He was African-American. Miles might have lived in Chillicothe, Ohio for a while. Later, he moved to Waukesha, Wisconsin. There, he worked as a barber.
Family Life and Moves
After moving to Winona, Minnesota, he met and married Mrs. Candace J. (Shedd) Dunlap. She was a widow with two children from La Porte, Indiana. Candace was four years older than Alexander and was from New York. They had a daughter together, named Grace, who was born in 1876. Some people believe Alexander got the idea for his elevator door invention after his daughter, Grace, had a scary accident near an elevator shaft. Soon after Grace was born, the family moved to Duluth, Minnesota. In Duluth, Alexander became the first Black member of the Duluth Chamber of Commerce. This was a big achievement.
By 1889, the family had moved to Montgomery, Alabama. In city records, Miles was listed as a laborer. In 1899, he moved to Chicago. There, he started a life insurance company called The United Brotherhood. This company helped insure Black people, who often could not get insurance back then. Around 1903, they moved again to Seattle, Washington. In Seattle, Alexander worked as a barber in a hotel.
Miles passed away in 1918. In 2007, he was honored by being added to the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
How Miles Improved Elevators
In Alexander Miles's time, elevator doors had to be closed by hand. Often, a special person called an operator would close them. If the elevator shaft was left open, people could fall into it. This led to many terrible accidents. Miles wanted to make elevators much safer.
Miles's Smart Design
Miles made a clever improvement to the elevator system. He designed a flexible belt that attached to the elevator car. He also placed special drums at each floor. These drums would tell the elevator when it reached a floor. When the elevator arrived at a floor, the belt would interact with the drums. This would use levers and rollers to automatically open and close the doors.
Miles received a patent for this amazing invention in 1887. His design made elevators much safer and more efficient. Another inventor, John W. Meaker, had received a patent for a similar automatic door mechanism 13 years earlier. Alexander Miles is part of a special group of African-American inventors and scientists.
See Also
