Alexander was born in Duluth Minnesota.He moved to Waukesha,Wisconsin where he earned a living as a barber in the 1860s.After a move to Winona,Minnesota in 1870,he met his wife,Candace J.Dunlap,a white woman born in New York in 1834.Together they had a daughter named Grace who was born in April 1879.Shortly after her birth,the family relocated to Duluth,Minnesota
While in Duluth,Alexander operated a barbershop in the four-story St.Louis Hotel and purchased a real estate office.His wife found work as a dress maker maker.Alexander became the first African American member of the Duluth Chamber of Commerce.In 1884,he built a three-story brownstone building at 19 West Superior Street in Duluth.This area became known as the Miles Block.It was at this time that Alexander was inspired to work on elevator door mechanisms.
While riding in an elevator with his young daughter,Alexander saw the risk associated with an elevator shaft door carelessly ajar.This led him to draft his design for automatically opening and closing elevator doors and apply for a patent.When the elevator would arrive or depart from a given floor,the doors would move automatically.Previously,the opening and closing of the doors of both the shaft and the elevator had to be completed manually by either the elevator or by the passengers,contributing greatly to the hazards of operating an elevator.
Alexander attached a flexible belt to the elevator cage,and when the belt came into contact with drums positioned along the elevator shaft along the elevator shaft just above and below the floors,it allowed the elevator shaft doors to operate at the appropriate times. The elevator doors,themselves were automated were automated through a series of levers and rollers.
Before working on elevator engineering,Alexander experimented with the creation of hair products.The influence of his elevator patent is still seen modern designs,since the automatic opening and closing
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