Inventor database
Verified
Alexander Miles
Patented automatic elevator doors
At a glance
- Inventor
- Alexander Miles
- Life
- 1838–1918
- Birthplace
- Circleville, Ohio
- Country
- United States
- Region
- United States
- Era
- 1800s
- Fields
- Architecture & Infrastructure, Everyday Life
- Evidence
- Verified
- Records
- 1 in this archive
What they did
A barber and property owner in Duluth, Minnesota, Miles patented a mechanism that opened and closed both the elevator cage doors and the shaft doors automatically.
Historical context
Passengers had to close the shaft door by hand. Forgetting meant an open pit on every floor; people fell and died.
The legacy
Automatic door interlocks are now a legal requirement in elevator codes worldwide.
The evidence
US Patent 371,207 — Elevator