Inventor Alexander Miles and the Automated Elevator Door

Blogger: Amber Lemus

Alexander Miles
Public Domain

Alexander Miles was an American inventor who was both born and passed away in the month of May, so I figured this would be a fitting month to learn about this incredible man.

Alexander was born May 18, 1838 to Michael Miles and Mary Pompy in Ohio. Since he was born in a free state, and was never recorded as enslaved, historians believe that he was a freeman.

After Alexander became of age, he moved to Wisconsin where he made a living as a barber. His innovative talents were already emerging as he created and marketed hair products. While in Wisconsin, he met Candace Dunlap, who was a widow with two children. Though she was four years older than him, they fell in love and married. Together they had one daughter whom they named Grace.

Shortly after the birth of their daughter, they moved to Duluth, Minnesota. Alexander and his wife decided to take a risk and invested their life savings into a real estate office. This proved to be a smart investment for them, and they lived in prosperity in Duluth, even getting a whole block named after them because of his real estate developments. He had also opened a barber shop at the upscale four-story Saint Louis hotel, and his business achievements paved the way for him to become the first African-American member of the Duluth Chamber of Commerce.


It was most likely at the aforementioned hotel that Alexander's innovative mind was exposed to the elevator problem. As the story goes, Alexander was riding in an elevator with his daughter when he realized the dangers of the current door operating system. At this time, the doors could only be operated by either the people inside the elevator, or a dedicated elevator operator. However, people often forgot, or didn't go through the hassle to manually close the doors, which created a danger of people falling into the elevator shaft. In the early days of elevators, it could be quite dangerous and usually resulted in serious injury or death. Alexander thought that if the elevator doors would open and close automatically when leaving and arriving at the various floors, it would create a safer environment. 

Diagram of Alexander Mile's invention

He set to work on a design and came up with a system that utilized a flexible belt attached to the elevator cage, drums to indicate the elevator's position, and various levers and rollers. He was granted a patent for his design on October 11, 1887. It's interesting, because thirteen years prior, an inventor was granted a patent on an automatic elevator door system, however his design never took hold. It was Alexander's design that was used and is even influential in our modern-day elevators. Needless to say, his invention earned a lot of income for him and his family.

Second diagram of his invention
Public Domain

In 1899, at the age of sixty-one, Alexander founded yet another business, The United Brotherhood. It was a life-insurance company specifically formed for African-American customers who were being turned down for coverage from white-owned firms.

By the time of his death on May 7, 1918, Alexander Miles was considered the wealthiest African-American in the Pacific Northwest area. He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007.

*****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Lemus inspires hearts through enthralling tales She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".

She lives near the Ozarks in her "casita" with her prince charming. Between enjoying life as a boy mom, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at http://www.amberlemus.com/ and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!

KNOCK, KNOCK...

 By Mary Davis

Do you think much about doors? What is a door? A door is many things…
...an entry
…an exit
…welcoming
…protection
…a transition point
…a portal
…a connection between two worlds

We couldn’t imagine our personal dwelling place without a door. From whence did they come?

The first known door dates back to four-thousand-year-old Egyptian tomb paintings.

Early doors were made out of whatever was available locally, generally wood or stone. Later, some doors were made-of or overlaid with bronze and other materials.

Ancient stone doors had pivot posts at the top and bottom which fit into sockets for them to swing open and closed. My back hurts just thinking about opening that heavy door.

In the 1st century AD, Greek scholar Heron of Alexandria created the first recorded automatic door. The Chinese developed the first foot-sensor-activated door around 604-618 AD for Emperor Yang of Sui for his royal library. And here I thought automatic doors were a relatively new invention.

During medieval times of the 12th and 13th centuries, the symbol on a door was significant. It could denote prestige, status, and wealth. Doors and the architecture surrounding them became more and more elaborate.

Once at a person’s door, how does one announce oneself? Door knockers were a favorite and, like doors, could tell a visitor a little something about who dwelt beyond the barrier. For instance, a lion door knocker indicated that a Christian resided within.

Customs changed, both over the centuries and depending on your station. As they say, when in Rome . . . In Ancient Rome, knocking was done with the foot. In the middle ages, one would knock with a single hand, or some preferred a more subtle approach and simply coughed to announce their arrival. In 16th century Cologne, important people brought along a servant to knock for them. And in 18th century Versailles, knocking was out and scratching with the fingernails was in. That’s just creepy.

An indispensable part of the door is the knob. History is a little unclear about when doorknobs came on the scene, but they weren’t as we have today. Knobs that have a fitted socket and a mechanism which allows them to turn didn’t pop up until the late 1880s. This surprised me. I thought turning knobs would have been around much longer.

For some, a simple door would never do. The more unique, ornate, and bigger, the better. For three years, William K. and Alva Vanderbilt were working on a secret project that had many curious. The eight-foot-high fence protecting their secret came down on August 19, 1892 to welcome society’s elite to their Marble House in Newport, Rhode Island. The most impressive marvel of engineering was the pair of sixteen-foot-high and twenty-five-feet-wide steel and glass doors. Each weighed more than a ton! The knobs on such doors must have been equally impressive. They weren’t, and they were. They weren’t impressive because there were no knobs. At all. The impressive part was that footmen in maroon uniforms stood behind each door to open and close them so the wealthy wouldn’t have to exert themselves.

Though I’m all for people opening and holding doors for others, I prefer doors I can operate myself if I so choose.

Without doors, architecture would be little more than a box with no way in.

 

Much of this information came from an awesome book titled The Elements of a Home: Curious Histories Behind Everyday Household Objects, from Pillows to Forks by Amy Azzarito

THE DÉBUTANTE’S SECRET: Quilting Circle 4

(Releases August 2021 & Pre-orders start in June)

Will Geneviève open her heart to a love she never imagined? Her sole purpose in coming to Kamola is to stop her brother from digging up the past. When a fancy French lady steps off the train and into Deputy Montana’s arms, his modest existence might not be enough anymore. Mystery surrounds Aunt Henny, aunt to all but related to no one. A nemesis from her past arrives, and she must decide to flee again or risk going to jail. When secrets come out, will the lives of Geneviève, Montana, and Aunt Henny ever be the same?

 

MARY DAVIS s a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over two dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her 2018 titles include; "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, Courting Her Amish Heart, The Widow’s Plight, Courting Her Secret Heart , “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection , and Courting Her Prodigal Heart . 2019 titles include The Daughter's Predicament and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She is a member of ACFW and active in critique groups.

Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of over thirty-five years and her geriatric Norwegian Forest cat. She has three adult children and three incredibly adorable grandchildren. Find her online at:

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SARAH WINCHESTER & the 2,000 DOORS

By Mary Davis

Her mind was as mystifying as the chaotic house she built. Each labyrinth of halls, more baffling than the previous.

Sarah Lockwood Pardee was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1839. On September 30, 1862, Sarah married William Wirt Winchester the only son and heir of Oliver Winchester owner of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company.

William and Sarah had a daughter, Annie Pardee Winchester, born on July 12, 1866 who passed away only five and a half months later from marasmus. They had no other children. Upon her husband’s death in 1881, Sarah inherited $20 million dollars and nearly 50% of the Winchester Repeating Arms Company stock.

Grieving from the loss of her daughter and husband, Sarah visited a medium who recommended she move west and told her she needed to keep building to appease the spirits of the numerous people the Winchester rifle killed over the years. Sarah moved and bought a two-story, eight-room farmhouse in 1884 near San Jose, CA and began “remodeling”. She called her home Llanada Villa.

One of Sarah's Many Bedrooms

Construction continued around the clock seven days a week adding on and adding on and adding on. You could say that this was a renovation that got out of control.

Upon her death on September 5, 1922, the hammers and saws were laid down and the remodeling finally stopped.

By then, the normal farmhouse had grown into a sprawling mansion of confusion without rhyme or reason. In the end, the residence measured 24,000 square feet.

In that space, the eight rooms had multiplied into 160. There were:

~~47 staircase (some leading to dead ends)

~~47 fireplaces

~~17 chimneys

~~52 skylights (one of which is in the floor of a middle story)

~~13 bathrooms

~~9 kitchens

~~10,000 windows

~~2,000 doors (Watch your step. This second floor door goes nowhere.)

Maybe this door that leads nowhere was to confuse the ghosts. Perhaps, if one was to open this door from the inside, it would lead to Narnia.

Other doors opened up to a wall.

With all these additions, a network of rambling rooftops developed.

Sarah’s Llanada Villa became known as the Winchester Mystery House even before her death.

I haven’t had a chance to visit the Winchester Mystery House, but I really want to. It sounds so intriguing.

On the night of October 31, 1924, the famous magician Harry Houdini visited the house to debunk the claims of paranormal activity. By the time he left, he had more questions than answers and referred to it as “The Mystery House.”

In 2018, a movie was made of Sarah Winchester and her mystery house called Winchester, starring Helen Mirren.

The websites used in my research hinted at Sarah’s obsession for the constant building of this bizarre house was to appease the ghosts of the multitude of people who were killed by the Winchester Repeating Rifle. She believed those people haunted her hence the reason for the constant construction and so many doors. She had many of the doors nailed shut with thirteen nails each. Whether you believe in actual physical hauntings or you think it was all in her head, Sarah was a haunted soul.

Was she simply crazy? Or was she haunted by restless souls?

THE DAUGHTER'S PREDICAMENT (Book 2 in the Quilting Circle series )

Can a patient love win her heart?
   As Isabelle Atwood’s romance prospects are turning in her favor, a family scandal derails her dreams. While making a quilt for her own hope chest, Isabelle’s half-sister becomes pregnant out of wedlock and Isabelle--always the unfavored daughter--becomes the family sacrifice to save face. Despite gaining the attention of a handsome rancher, her parents are pressuring her to marry a man of their choosing to rescue her sister’s reputation. A third suitor waits silently in the wings, hoping for his own chance at love. Isabelle ends up with three marriage proposals, but this only further confuses her decision.
   A handsome rancher, a stranger, and an unseen suitor are all waiting for an answer. Isabelle loves her sister, but will she really allow herself to be manipulated into a marriage without love? Will Isabelle capitulate and marry the man her parents wish her to, or will she rebel and marry the man they don’t approve of? Or will the man leaving her secret love poems sweep her off her feet?

MARY DAVIS is a bestselling, award-winning novelist of over three dozen titles in both historical and contemporary themes. Her recent titles include; "Holly and Ivy" in A Bouquet of Brides Collection, The PRODIGAL DAUGHTERS Series, The Widow’s Plight, “Zola’s Cross-Country Adventure” in The MISSAdventure Brides Collection, The Daughter's Predicament, and "Bygones" in Thimbles and Threads. She’s an ACFW member and critique groups. Mary lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of thirty-four years and two cats. She has three adult children and two adorable grandchildren. Find her online:

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