Alexander miles death

When was alexander miles born

Alexander Miles May 18, — May 7, was an African American inventor and businessman, best known for being awarded a patent for automatically opening and closing elevator doors. He was awarded US patent on October 11, He was African-American. Miles may have resided in the nearby town of Chillicothe, Ohio , but subsequently moved to Waukesha, Wisconsin , where he earned a living as a barber.

After a move to Winona, Minnesota , he met and married Mrs. Candace J. Shedd Dunlap, of La Porte, Indiana , a widow with two children, who was four years his senior and a native of New York. Together they had a daughter, born in , named Grace. It is believed by some that Alexander got the idea for his elevator door mechanism after Grace accidentally fell down a shaft, almost ending her life.

Shortly after her birth, the family relocated to Duluth, Minnesota. The family moved to Montgomery, Alabama by , where Miles was listed in the city directories as a laborer. In , he moved to Chicago where he founded The United Brotherhood as a life insurance company that would insure black people, who were often denied coverage at that time. Around , they moved again, to Seattle, Washington , where he worked in a hotel as a barber.

Miles died in , and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in In his time, doors of the elevators had to be closed manually, often by dedicated operators. If the shaft was not closed, people could fall through it leading to some horrific accidents.