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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.11.14 17:01l 55 Lines 2565 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 39707_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Nov 10
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Sent: 141110/1556Z 39707@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.61
Nov 10, 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.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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