Alexander Miles

Alexander Miles developed innovations for elevator cabin and shaft doors, making it possible for the doors to automatically open and close. His work ensured much safer and more convenient elevator rides.

Born in Circleville, Ohio, in 1838, Miles spent much of his early adulthood working as a barber in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Here, he became widely renowned for his earliest inventions – hair care products.

After moving to Minnesota and opening a highly successful barbershop in the St. Lewis Hotel in Duluth in 1879, Miles used his earnings to buy a real estate office, becoming the first Black member of the Duluth Chamber of Commerce. In 1884, he built a three-story building in an area that would become known as the “Miles Block.”

There is more than one story of how Miles became driven to improve the design of elevators. Some report that he could hear the operation of the elevator adjacent to his barbershop within the four-story St. Lewis Hotel and began thinking of different ways to improve it. Others speculate Miles took note of the dangers of elevator operation when he saw that a shaft door was left open during an elevator ride with his daughter Grace, who was born in 1876. In either case, Miles was determined to improve the method of operating elevator doors.

At the time, opening and closing the doors of both the shaft and the cabin had to be completed manually, by either the elevator operator or by passengers. Because of this, doors were often left open, and passengers would fall into the elevator shafts, leading to serious injuries and even deaths.

To address this life-threatening problem, Miles attached a flexible belt to the elevator cage. When the belt came into contact with the drums positioned along the elevator shaft, just above and below the floors, it allowed the elevator shaft doors to operate at the appropriate times. The elevator doors themselves were automated through a series of levers and rollers.

Miles patented his design for an improved method for opening and closing elevators in 1887. By allowing the doors to automatically open and close at the desired floors, his innovations made elevators not only safer but also easier and more convenient.

In 1899, Miles and his family moved to Chicago, where he founded a life insurance company. This company, The United Brotherhood, advocated for racial equality by selling insurance to Black Americans who had been refused coverage from white-owned insurance firms.

When Miles and his family relocated once more to Seattle, he was known as “the wealthiest African American in the Pacific Northwest Region,” but he eventually returned to working as a barber.

The influence of this trailblazing inventor and entrepreneur still can be seen in modern elevator designs, with the standard feature of automatic cabin and shaft doors continuing to ensure safety.