Alexander Miles, a Duluth barber, patented an elevator door mechanism in 1887; a flexible belt and levers helped automate the shaft and car doors

Every time you get into an elevator and observe the doors closing automatically, you are using an idea that is more than 130 years old. Alexander Miles, a barber born in Ohio, designed a system that enabled elevator car doors and shaft doors to open and close automatically, according to the National Inventors Hall of Fame. It was patented on October 11, 1887, and it may have helped save lives. The story also reflects the life of a Black businessman who ran a barbershop, invested in real estate, and solved a problem engineers had overlooked.

A barber with a big idea

Miles was born in 1838 in Circleville, Ohio, and died in 1918. He was not an inventor at first. He worked as a barber in Waukesha, Wisconsin. NIHF's biography notes that Miles also made a name for himself by creating his own hair-care products. He then moved to Duluth, Minnesota, where he ran a barbershop inside the four-story St. Louis Hotel in 1879. His business was successful, and he used his earnings to start a real estate business and become the first African American in the Duluth Chamber of Commerce. In 1884, Miles built his own separate three-story building, called the "Miles Block" by locals. His elevator story, however, begins back at the St. Louis Hotel, where his barbershop was located.


The elevator safety problem

During the late 19th century, elevators did not have automatic doors that closed themselves; they had to be manually operated by either the operator or the passengers. It might sound harmless, but think about what would happen if people forgot to close the door. The shaft doors would remain open, and somebody could just walk through the opening and fall down the shaft. Records from the National Inventors Hall of Fame document that this risky habit was responsible for injuries as well as death. Two different stories have been reported regarding how Miles became interested in solving this problem. According to one reported account, he may have been inspired by hearing the elevator near his barbershop. Another version says he saw a shaft door left open during a ride with his daughter Grace. Either way, he went on to redesign the system.

How the flexible belt actually worked

Miles built a mechanism using a flexible belt attached to the elevator car. As the elevator moved up or down, this belt touched drums placed along the shaft, just above and below each floor. That contact caused the doors to open or close at the appropriate point. A set of levers and rollers moved the shaft door and the cabin door together, so passengers never had to touch either one. The original patent record, U.S. Patent No. 371,207, titled "Improved Method for Opening and Closing Elevators," was granted on October 11, 1887. It describes this specific design in detail, providing the most convincing evidence of the actual structure Miles invented.

Not the first, but the one who made it work

Miles was not the only one to patent the idea of automatic elevator doors. According to BlackPast, another inventor by the name of John W. Meaker patented a similar automatic door closer way back in 1874. However, this idea did not take off. Miles's design helped advance automatic doors toward wider use.

Life after the patent

Miles did not just stop with the invention of the elevator. He moved to Chicago with his family in 1899, where he set up an insurance company that was known as The United Brotherhood. NIHF's account states that this insurance company sold policies to Black Americans who were rejected by white-owned insurance firms. Eventually, he relocated to Seattle, and as BlackPast notes, he became famous in Seattle for being one of the wealthiest blacks living in the Pacific Northwest. He later returned to barbering, where his career had begun. In 2007, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for one of his inventions, which had been silently changing elevators for over 100 years.

Why this story still matters today

You can still see Miles's basic idea in almost all elevators today: the cabin and shaft doors move together automatically without manual operation. It might be easy to overlook this, but someone came up with the idea of this structure and showed that it was worth building. Alexander Miles was a barber who noticed a dangerous gap in everyday design and fixed it, and it’s worth remembering the next time you watch the elevator doors close on their own.