During the late 19th century, elevators were constructed in a way that required a person to manually open and close its doors. Residential and commercial buildings often hired operators to perform this function.
The problem with this model was that sometimes people would forget to close the shaft doors. This led to many unfortunate accidents.
Alexander Miles (1838–1918) witnessed an open shaft door once. This concerned him as his young daughter, Alice (according to the 1860 census), was with him at the time. Thinking of her safety, Miles knew that the doors needed improving. He then went to work creating a mechanism that closed access to the shaft door while the elevator was in operation on other floors.
His design attached a flexible belt to the elevator cage. When it went over drums positioned at the appropriate spots above and below a floor, it automated the opening and closing of the doors with levers and rollers. In 1887, Miles, an African American inventor and businessman, was granted a patent on this mechanism, one that is still used in elevator design today.
Miles was born in Ohio, near a town called Circleville. His birth year has been recorded as “possibly January 1837” (others report May 1838), and no record exists confirming that he was ever a slave. He had no other siblings. His family relocated to Waukesha, Wis., in the late 1850s. It was there that he began making a living as a barber.
He later met Candace Dunlap, a widowed mother of two. The couple married and, by 1863, relocated to Duluth, Minn. There, they had one daughter together. Miles continued his profession as a barber and began developing a line of hair care products that included Tunisian Hair Dressing.
The couple quickly prospered. They invested in real estate. Miles operated his barbershop in the upscale St. Louis Hotel, but the profession soon became an adult hobby.
He joined the Duluth Chamber of Commerce, becoming its first African American member; and became active in politics and fraternal organizations.
After just over two decades, Miles sold his real estate investments and relocated his family to Chicago. His business interests then grew, as he founded The United Brotherhood in order to sell life insurance policies to African Americans.
At that time, Blacks were regularly excluded from, if not flat out denied coverage. By age 50, Miles was at the top of his game and worth an estimated half-million dollars. His real estate, hair care business and inventions did well, and he was thought to be the wealthiest Black man in the Midwest during that time.
Later, after relocating to Seattle, it was believed he was the wealthiest Black person in the Pacific Northwest. But his debts would mount and his financial bubble would burst during the recession. Some 20 years later, Miles was broke, widowed, and working as a barber again. His residence was a Seattle rooming house. He died in 1918 and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007.
Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/alexander-miles-improved-elevator-4071713
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Miles
https://www.invent.org/inductees/alexander-miles
Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=alexander+miles&title=Special%3ASearch&go=Go&ns0=1&ns6=1&ns12=1&ns14=1&ns100=1&ns106=1
Duluth Public Library – & Images of America – Duluth Minnesota – Sheldon T. Aubut author
Tamara Shiloh
Tamara Shiloh has published the first two books in her historical fiction chapter book series,
Just Imagine…What If There Were No Black People in the World is about African American inventors, scientists and other notable Black people in history. The two books are
Jaxon’s Magical Adventure with Black Inventors and Scientists and
Jaxon and Kevin’s Black History Trip Downtown. Tamara Shiloh has also written a book a picture book for Scholastic,
Cameron Teaches Black History, that will be available in June, 2022.
Tamara Shiloh’s other writing experiences include: writing the Black History column for the Post Newspaper in the Bay area, Creator and Instruction of the black History Class for Educators a professional development class for teachers and her non-profit offers a free Black History literacy/STEM/Podcast class for kids 3d – 8th grade which also includes the Let’s Go Learn Reading and Essence and tutorial program. She is also the owner of the Multicultural Bookstore and Gifts, in Richmond, California,
Previously in her early life she was the /Editor-in-Chief of
Desert Diamonds Magazine, highlighting the accomplishments of minority women in Nevada; assisting with the creation, design and writing of a Los Angeles-based, herbal magazine entitled
Herbal Essence; editorial contribution to
Homes of Color; Editor-in-Chief of
Black Insight Magazine, the first digital, interactive magazine for African Americans; profile creations for sports figures on the now defunct PublicFigure.com; newsletters for various businesses and organizations; and her own Las Vegas community newsletter,
Tween Time News, a monthly publication highlighting music entertainment in the various venues of Las Vegas.
She is a member of:
- Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)
- Richmond Chamber of Commerce
- Point Richmond Business Association
- National Association of Professional Women (NAPW)
- Independent Book Publishers Association (IPBA)
- California Writers Club-Berkeley & Marin
- Richmond CA Kiwanis
- Richmond CA Rotary
- Bay Area Girls Club
Tamara Shiloh, a native of Northern California, has two adult children, one grandson and four great-grand sons. She resides in Point Richmond, CA with her husband, Ernest.
www.multiculturalbookstore.com
