Miles, Alexander

1838-1918 · Contribution: 1887

Automatically closing elevator doors

Industrial & Mechanical — collage image
Industrial & Mechanical

Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.

Impact on the world

His automatic elevator door design improved passenger safety by preventing accidental falls into open elevator shafts.

Life & background

An inventor who patented a mechanism that allowed elevator doors to open and close automatically as the elevator car moved past each floor, an important early elevator safety innovation.

Sources

  1. U.S. Patent 371,207; National Inventors Hall of Fame