Clear Vision!

Have you ever wondered about the windshield wipers on your vehicle? No? Well, honestly, neither have I, except if they were not working! However, I saw a little side bar on an article I was reading about women inventors last week and the name of Mary Anderson popped up. I was curious, and this is what I found. 

On February 19, 1866, Mary Elizabeth Anderson was born in Burton Hill Plantation, Greene County, Alabama. Details of her education are sketchy, but we know that she never married or had children. When she was twenty-three, she moved to Birmingham, Alabama, to live with her widowed mother and sister. 

While in Birmingham, Mary became a real estate developer and built an apartment complex called Fairmont Apartments. When she was thirty-two, she left Alabama to operate a cattle ranch and vineyard in Fresno, California. A woman of great and diverse skill!

In 1902, Mary was visiting New York City, and it was a cold, blustery day with snow falling. She was riding in a trolley car and noticed that the driver was having a difficult time seeing out the windows because of the sleet and the resulting icy windows. The driver needed to reach through the open window to clear the windows with his hands. Mary watched this unfold and while not an engineer, but an entrepreneur, saw this as an exciting opportunity. She envisioned a blade that could sweep the windshield and that the driver could operate from inside the vehicle. 

As soon as she got home, Mary sketched a model for a swinging arm with a rubber blade that was operated from inside a vehicle. She then hired a designer to produce a working model comprising a lever inside that controlled the blade outside on the windscreen, and it was removable. She applied for a patent and on November 19, 1893, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Mary her patent, for her “Window Cleaning Device,” Patent number 743,801.

Mary attempted to sell the rights to her invention to the Canadian company, Dinning and Eckntein in 1905, but they were not interested, stating, “Dear Madam. We beg to acknowledge receipt of your recent favor with reference to the sale of your patent. We do not consider it to be of such commercial value as would warrant our undertaking its sale.” They also feared that the device would distract the driver as it moved across the windscreen. Mary faced a lot of skepticism while trying to market her device. It was a man’s world, and she was a woman. 

By 1922, things were changing I the automotive world and cars were becoming more popular. Cadillac was the first manufacturer to adopt windshield wipers as standard equipment. However, sadly, Mary was given no recognition or even mention, nor did she recognize any profit for her invention. Her patent expired, and she gave up all marketing attempts or trying to partner with companies. She was a woman ahead of her time, as was her invention, but others profited from it. 

Mary Anderson was a remarkable woman with entrepreneurial skill and ambition. In 2011, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Executive vice president of the Hall of Fame, Fini Paiva, said, “she was persistent, she was forward-thinking, and she had the drive to follow up on an idea.”