Daily I hop into my car, switch on the engine, and drive off. If it is a warm day, I decide to switch on the air conditioning or retract my convertible roof. On cool days I adjust the heat system, to ensure I am comfy as I am driving. When it is raining, snowing or foggy I utilise my Wiper blades to clear the windshield.
I do not generally think of how these things developed for my comfort, I just accept that vehicles have these facilities to boost my driving experience. However, as winter approaches, it caused me to reflect upon the Windscreen wipers and what a amazing invention they are.
I have searched for information on this subject and found that in 1903, when the first windshields were added to automobiles, an inventor by the name of J H Apjohn came up with the notion of Windscreen wipers in the form of brushes which swept up and down the windshield to clear it. I would think that the brushes in all probability caused quite a few scratches to the windshield, so in 1905, when the American inventor, Mary Anderson, patented the swinging arm style of windshield wiper, with a rubber blade, this must have been eagerly accepted by the automotive industry.
These early Windscreen wipers called for the driver to move a lever in the car to work the wipers, so the next major move was towards electric Windscreen wipers. A dentist from Hawaii, Dr Ormand Wall, invented the electric wipers in 1917, some 12 years after Mary Anderson’s first Wiper Blades were added to motor vehicles.
All Windscreen wipers had rubber blades until relatively recently. The troubles found with these were that due to changes in temperature, summer heat, winter frosts, the rubber rotted and the Wiper blades needed replacing in a relatively short time period.
Silicone wiper blades are now also offered and these are less at risk from temperature variants than their rubber predecessors. Though the Silicone wiper blades are slightly more dear than the rubber Windscreen wipers, they frequently come with a guarantee to not rot or split, as can happen with the rubber wipers, and also claim to be able to follow the contours of the windshield better, giving a more clean sweep.
We ask a lot from these amazing little inventions. I expect to press or pull or twist at a stick on my driving wheel and receive an instant effect from the Wiper blades. They are expected to clear dust and bugs from my windshield in the summer. When the roads are filthy, I need the filth to be cleared from my windscreen promptly, to give me good vision. If it is icy first thing in the morning, I switch on the heater and impatiently switch the Windscreen wipers on to clear the windscreen fast. In winter the thick snow is given short shrift.
Because of the above I thank the ingenious Mary Anderson, the inventor of Windscreen wipers.I also marvel at the type of mind that could come up with such an invention out of just being faced with a problem. It’s a lesson to us all when we’re facing adversity.
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