Seiichi Miyake was born in 1926. He was a Japanese inventor and social activist renown for the invention of “tactile surfaces”, flagstones with special protrusions, facilitating the movement of visually impaired people in public places.
In 1965, Seiichi Miyake created tactile plates also known as Braille Blocks or Tenji Blocks from his own money, ie pavement slabs in two main types: with round dots and vertical stripes. Blocks of dots inform about danger, vertical about safe moving forward.
On March 18th, 1967, a city near a School for the Blind in Okayama City, Japan was the first place where this invention for the visually impaired was installed.
In 1977, the touch plates became obligatory at the Japanese railway stations.
Miyake’s design has rapidly found its way to cities across the globe. A number of different patterns have been designed since, with smaller raised dots or more pill-shaped bumps signifying different directional cues around the world. For instance, when the raised lines are horizontal in the direction of travel, that might mean “look out for steps ahead”.
Seiichi Miyake Wiki/Bio:
| Real Name: | Seiichi Miyake |
| Date of Birth: | 1926 |
| Profession: | Social Activist and Engineer |
| Family: | Not Known |
| Death Date: | 1982 |
Seiichi Miyake Google Doodle:
On March 18th, 2019, Google Doodle honored Seiichi Miyake with his logo changed to yellow blocks with moving dots and stripes.
Seiichi Miyake Age, Height, Weight:
| Age: | 56 Years (At the time of Death) |
| Height: | 5 Ft 10 in |
| Weight: | 75 Kgs |
