Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Creativity Update: The Windshield Wiper

The story behind the invention of the windshield wiper. An excerpt:

Mary Anderson, of Birmingham, Alabama, is usually credited with inventing the windshield wiper. In 1903, during a visit to New York City, she took a streetcar during a snowstorm and saw the driver repeatedly stop his car to go outside and clean its front glass. Anderson went home and designed a wiper mounted on a spindle that ran through a hole in the windshield frame and connected to a handle inside the vehicle. A counterweight and spring mechanism kept the rubber blade pressed against the glass.

Anderson’s device was meant for streetcars, not automobiles, very few of which had windshields in 1903. Even after windshields became common, toward the end of the decade, wipers were not considered necessary, since most cars were still open to the air and stayed in the garage when it rained. But as driving became a routine activity for the masses instead of a recreation for the wealthy, automobiles had to be usable in all kinds of weather.

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