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

[1]US Patent 371,207 — Elevator
Primary record
United States Patent Office · Patent record

Documentation strength

Partial

1
Sources: 1
Primary: 1
Publishers

Calculated from the sources actually attached to this record — the closer a source sits to the original document, the more it counts. It is never asserted by hand.