Mary Anderson (inventor)
Mary Anderson (* 1866 in Greene County, Alabama; † in Monteagle, Tennessee 1953) was building contractor, rancher, grower and inventor of the windshield wiper system. In November 1903, the American Mary Anderson was granted a patent on the first functioning windshield wiper system in the world. Anderson's device consisted of a steering wheel mounted in close lever, with which the driver has put on the windshield if necessary, a swing arm suspension with a rubber sheet in movement, then returned again to the starting position.
Childhood and youth
Anderson was born in 1866 on the Burton Hill Plantation in Greene County ( Alabama) in the United States, beginning of Reconstruction. She moved in 1889 with her mother and her sister in the thriving city of Birmingham (Alabama ). Shortly thereafter, they built the Fairmont Apartments on Highland Avenue. 1893 Mary Anderson has settled in Fresno ( California), where she ran a cattle farm and a vineyard until 1898. She took an active part in Transcendental Meditation and entered as a trained ventriloquist on the case of small events and family celebrations.
Invention of the wiper system
On a visit to New York City in the winter 1902, she remarked, as she drove on a frosty day on the tram that the tram driver because it was difficult due to the falling Eisregens to keep a clear view with open windshield drove. When she returned to Birmingham, they sketched out a hand-operated device to keep a windshield clear and had a local company to build a working model. 1903, a 17 -year patent for a windshield wiper system has been approved on their behalf. Your device consisted of a lever and a swinging arm with a rubber lip. The lever could be operated from inside the vehicle to let wipe the feather -tipped arm on the windshield back and forth. Similar devices have been invented earlier, but Anderson was the first thing that was effective.
1905, they tried to rights by a well-known Canadian company to sell, but it refused their request ". We do not Consider It to be of seeking commercial value as would warrant our undertaking its sale" ( released: " We do not consider of such high commercial value, as making a sale by our company would be justified. "). Although they occasionally received royalties, but this amounted to no large sums of money.
After the patent expired in 1920 and the automotive industry increased exponentially, were windscreen wipers which took captures crucial Design by Anderson, as standard equipment.
Later life section
Anderson lived in Birmingham, where she continued to administer the Fairmont Apartments, until her death at the age of 87 years. At the time of her death she was the oldest member of South Highland Presbyterian Church. She died in her summer home in Monteagle (Tennessee). Her funeral was conducted by Dr. Frank A. Mathes in South Highland and she was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.