Today we can drive a car in heavy rain without much trouble, thanks to those two small wiper blades that move on the windshield of the car. But did you know that this ‘Windshield Wiper’, which has made the journey safer for millions of motorists around the world, was invented by a woman? Yes, that brave and inventive woman was named Mary Anderson. Let’s know her interesting story.
That journey in the snow storm…
The story is from 1902. Mary Anderson was a resident of Alabama, USA. During the winter days, she went for a walk in New York City. While traveling there, suddenly heavy snowfall started. Mary observed that the tram (a type of bus) driver had difficulty seeing the road due to snow on the windshield. The driver stopped the car every two minutes, got out and cleaned the ice from the windshield by hand. Sometimes he would drive with the front window of the car open to see the road, thereby exposing the passengers inside to the chilly wind.
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A unique idea came to mind
Seeing the driver’s exercise, Mary thought, “Why shouldn’t there be a tool that can clean the glass while sitting inside the car?” He started working on it immediately after returning from New York. He designed a device that would have a ‘lever’ inside the car that, when turned, would rotate a rubber blade mounted on the outside of the glass to clean the glass. That is, the driver did not need to get out of the car at all!
Discovered 17 years ago, But…
In 1903, Mary Anderson patented this device in her own name. Unfortunately, people at that time did not realize the value of their discovery. A major Canadian company rejected the invention, arguing that “the device would not benefit drivers, but rather distract them.” His patent expired in 1920.
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Further, the automobile industry grew rapidly. In 1922, Cadillac became the first car company to offer wipers as a standard feature on its cars. Although Mary did not receive the rightful money or great commercial success for her invention, her name was written in golden letters in the history of driving. The wiper in every car today bears witness to Mary Anderson’s revolutionary thinking!
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