Alexander Miles – Automatic elevator doors
In the past, riding elevators was complicated and dangerous. Passengers had to manually shut both the elevator and shaft doors before riding. Forgetting to shut the doors properly, or ignoring them, posed a real risk of falling down the shaft. When Alexander Miles’ daughter was almost involved in a catastrophic accident, he decided to develop a system to make elevators safer. In 1887, he was granted a patent for an automatic opening and closing mechanism for elevator and shaft doors. Miles’ design is still used in modern elevators today.