Читать книгу Intellectual Property Law for Engineers, Scientists, and Entrepreneurs - Howard B. Rockman - Страница 28

INVENTORS AND INVENTIONS
Mary Anderson
WINDSHIELD WIPER BLADE

Mary Anderson was a real estate developer, rancher, and inventor of the windshield wiper blade. She received her first patent, No. 743,801, in November 1903 for an automatic car window cleaning device that was controlled from inside the vehicle.

Mary was visiting New York City in the winter of 1902, and, while riding in a trolley car on a particularly icy day, she noticed that the motorman drove with both panes of the double‐front window open because of the difficulty in keeping the windshield clear of falling sleet. She also observed that the trolley driver often had to stop the trolley, and go outside to clear the window. The trolley’s front‐split, two‐panel window was designed for bad‐weather visibility, allowing the driver to move the panel comprising the snow or rain‐covered section out of his line of vision. However, the multi‐pane windshield system worked very poorly by exposing the driver’s uncovered face (not to mention all the passengers sitting in the front of the trolley) to the falling precipitation. Notably, the multi‐pane construction did not improve the operator’s ability to see where he or she was going.

Mary Anderson began to sketch her wiper device right there on the trolley car. She then returned to Alabama, and hired a designer to sketch a manually operated device to keep a windshield clear. She then had a local company produce a working prototype, consisting of a set of wiper arms made of rubber and wood that could be controlled and operated by a lever within the trolley operator’s reach. She applied for, and in 1903 was granted, a patent for the windshield wiper, which was directed to a lever inside the vehicle, which controlled the rubber blade on the outside of the windshield. The lever was accessible to the operator, and, when the lever was pivoted, the spring‐loaded arm and the wiper blade moved reciprocally across the outside of the windshield, clearing rain, ice, sleet, mist, snow, and other unwanted materials from the windshield surface while the operator remained wholly inside the trolley. A counterweight maintained contact between the wiper blade and the windshield surface. Mary Anderson’s patented device also included a feature where the wiper assembly was removable in fair weather. Similar devices had been made earlier, but Anderson’s was the first to work effectively.

Detractors argued that her wiper would be a dangerous distraction to vehicle operators. Also, during the first decade of the twentieth century, many cars did not go fast enough to require windshields. Even though windshield wipers became standard equipment by 1916, her patent expired before she obtained any royalties for her invention.

In 1905, Anderson tried to sell the rights to her invention through a noted Canadian firm, but they rejected her, saying “We do not consider it to be of such commercial value as would warrant our undertaking its sale.” Her patent expired in 1920, just as the automobile manufacturing industry was beginning to grow. In 1922, Cadillac became the first car manufacturer to adopt Mary Anderson’s windshield wiper blade as standard equipment.