Thursday, November 10, 2016

Windshield Wipers Patented...!

Sometimes we don't give the women around us enough credit for their inventions. Here's a good case in point!

1903
Mary Anderson patents windshield wiper

On this day, the patent office awards U.S. Patent No. 743,801 to a Birmingham, Alabama woman named Mary Anderson for her “window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice or sleet from the window.” When she received her patent, Anderson tried to sell it to a Canadian manufacturing firm, but the company refused: The device had no practical value, it said, and so was not worth any money. Though mechanical windshield wipers were standard equipment in passenger cars by around 1913, Anderson never profited from the invention.

As the story goes, on a freezing, wet winter day around the turn of the century, Mary Anderson was riding a streetcar on a visit to New York City when she noticed that the driver could hardly see through his sleet-encrusted front windshield. Although the trolley’s front window was designed for bad-weather visibility—it was split into parts so that the driver could open it, moving the snow- or rain-covered section out of his line of vision—in fact the multi-pane windshield system worked very poorly. It exposed the driver’s uncovered face (not to mention all the passengers sitting in the front of the trolley) to the inclement weather, and did not improve his ability to see where he was going in any case.

Anderson began to sketch her wiper device right there on the streetcar. After a number of false starts, she came up with a prototype that worked: a set of wiper arms that were made of wood and rubber and attached to a lever near the steering wheel of the drivers’ side. When the driver pulled the lever, she dragged the spring-loaded arm across the window and back again, clearing away raindrops, snowflakes or other debris. When winter was over, Anderson’s wipers could be removed and stored until the next year. (This feature was presumably designed to appeal to people who lived in places where it did not rain in the summertime.)

People scoffed at Anderson’s invention, saying that the wipers’ movement would distract the driver and cause accidents. Her patent expired before she could entice anyone to use her idea.

In 1917, a woman named Charlotte Bridgewood patented the “Electric Storm Windshield Cleaner,” an automatic wiper system that used rollers instead of blades. (Bridgewood’s daughter, the actress Florence Lawrence, had invented the turn signal.) Like Anderson, Bridgewood never made any money from her invention.

Can you imagine trying to automobile today with no wipers at all? Not me! I need all the help I can get!

Coffee out on the patio this morning! I'm baking some more peanut butter cookies, if you want some.

7 comments:

Judy said...

I wonder if they had used their initials if they would have been taken more seriously. I have a friend who uses her initials when proposing ideas in the manufacturing world so that people who don't know her take her engineering ideas seriously.

I would love a peanut butter cookie! That was the cookie my grandmother made when she knew we were coming to visit.

linda m said...

Thanks for the cookie. I could not drive a car that didn't have wiper blades. I wish someone would invent some for people who wear glasses. If I were mechanically inclined I would.

Hermit's Baby Sis said...

Love a cookie or two, Bubba. You know me and peanut butter, and if it's the same recipe from our visit on Sunday - yum!
And thanks for the stories on ladies - I know you're one who knows how to treat the "gentle sex". You were brought up right!
Big hugs ~

Hermit's Baby Sis said...

Love a cookie or two, Bubba. You know me and peanut butter, and if it's the same recipe from our visit on Sunday - yum!
And thanks for the stories on ladies - I know you're one who knows how to treat the "gentle sex". You were brought up right!
Big hugs ~

HermitJim said...

Hey Judy...
Maybe you are right about that. However, back then no one seemed to take women seriously.
Cookies are made for visitors and special occasions, and grandmas' do that best!
Thanks for stopping by today!


Hey Linda...
You're certainly not alone there. Wipers are very necessary to me.
Shame that it took so long to get them started as standard equipment.
Thanks for coming over today!


Hey Sis...
I really enjoyed the visit Sunday We'll have to do it more often.
Thanks for the visit today, Sis!


JO said...

I bet the women of today would go to battle to get there designs come to fruition.

Mention peanut butter and I'll come running.

Dizzy-Dick said...

Very interesting, as usual.