author
Alexander Miles
Best known for improving elevator safety, this 19th-century inventor helped shape a technology people use every day without thinking about it. His story also reflects a life of ambition, business success, and persistence across a changing America.
2 Audiobooks
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition.
by Alexis Thomson, Alexander Miles
Manual of Surgery Volume First: General Surgery. Sixth Edition.
by Alexis Thomson, Alexander Miles
About the author
Born on May 18, 1838, Alexander Miles was an African American inventor and businessman who is remembered for an important advance in elevator design. He received U.S. Patent 371,207 on October 11, 1887, for a mechanism that improved how elevator doors and shaft doors opened and closed, helping make elevators safer and more practical.
Miles also built a successful business life beyond his invention. Sources describe him as working in several cities over the course of his life, including Duluth, Chicago, and Seattle, and he became known as a prosperous businessman as well as an inventor.
He died on May 7, 1918. His contribution was recognized long afterward when he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007, a sign of how lasting his impact has been.