This week, MCI wants to celebrate Mary Anderson, the inventor of the windscreen wiper. She was born this week in 1866 in America. She was truly a woman of action – a real estate developer, rancher and viticulturist. Before 1903, if it was raining whilst you were driving your car, you’d either have to wind down the window and wipe the windscreen with a cloth, or stop the car and get out in the rain to clear the windscreen. Not just impractical but dangerous. Mary noticed the need for windscreen wipers when she was travelling in a streetcar, whilst it was sleeting. The poor driver was struggling to see and Mary had an idea to develop a wiper blade that could be operated from inside the vehicle. Although there had been many attempts to create a windscreen wiper previously, none was as successful as Mary’s invention. In addition, the wiper was designed to be removed from the vehicle once winter was over.
The story of Mary’s invention, unfortunately, doesn’t have a happy ending. She tried to sell the patent for her invention in 1905, but was told “we do not consider it to be of such commercial value as would warrant our undertaking its sale”. Cars at that time hadn’t yet taken off as a mode of transport. By the time cars had caught on, it was the 1920s and poor Mary’s patent had run out. She never profited from her invention.
MCI has helped many inventors realise their inventions and help them with their research and development. Let us help you with your inventions too. Call us on 01324 611371 to see how we can help you.
Have a good week everyone!