subject: The Invention Of Windshield Wipers [print this page] In 1903 Mary Anderson Created the 1st windshield wiper. This progressive idea came to her on a trip to New York when she observed that the trolley car operator had to repeatedly wipe the windshield in order to see through rain or snow. As a option she Created a swinging arm device that cleared rain or snow from the windshield by utilizing a simple hand-operated crank that inconveniently required help from the driver or passenger to make it work. Unfortunately as innovative as the swinging arm device was, Mary Anderson would never greatly profit from her evolutionary invention.
In 1916 all automobiles manufactured or sold in the United States were mandated to be equipped with windshield wipers, but they still needed manual help. Then in 1921 with the invention of the automatic windshield wiper called the Folberth, named after its inventor William Folberth, the hand-operated swinging arm device was replaced with a solitary blade wiper operate by suction from the engine's intake manifold. This device was connected to the inlet pipe of the engine and applied pressurized air to operate. The Folberth automatic wipers came with a problem in that wiper speed either increased or decreased with the speed of the car.
By 1926 Bosch created the electric version of the windshield wiper which was mainly installed in the most high-priced automobiles as a luxurious item. Even then the first electric power wiper blades didnt work very well since they would more often malfunction then function properly.
Concurrently adjustments were occurring to the kind of blades used in the wiper. In 1968 the speed wiper blade was launched which decreased blade wind resistance and kept the blade from rising off the windshield at high speeds. Then in 1976 a new innovation called the slim wiper blade performed even better with wind resistance at even higher speeds. About the same time West Germany designed A Spoiler type wiper blade that actually used wind resistance to enhance wiper performance.
While these changes were occurring to the blades a main innovation transpired to the windshield wiper and wiper arms. previously wipers were universally silver in color but that was updated to reflect the black with anti glare and corrosion resistant paint that is now used.
It was this interval of time that saw the Biggest change in the windshield wiper too. In 1953 on his wedding night, Mr. Robert Kearns caught a champagne bottle cork in his eye losing his eye sight in that eye. Driving home one evening ten years later, the remaining eye became strained due to the rapid back and forth motion of his wipers. As an engineering professor he had the background and mechanically creative mind to come up with a solution to the problem and in 1963 he invented the intermittent windshield wiper. The intermittent wiper using the concept of intervals and speed settings that adjust to the amount of rainfall, plus the adjustment in color of the wipers, were so successful they are relatively the same ones in use today.
SunTec Auto Glass understands the importance of using only the best quality auto glass available for your vehicle and more importantly for the safety of you and your family. If you are in Aguila, Ajo, Arlington, Rocksprings or Maricopa and Pinal Counties and require windshield replacement, auto glass repair, window tinting or glass etching, contact SunTec Auto Glass to handle those chips, cracks or breaks in your windshield.
