1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,960 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:12,800 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: a show that gives a quick look it's something that 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,760 Speaker 1: happened a long time ago. Today, I'm Gabe Lousier and 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: in this episode, we're talking about an overlooked inventor who 6 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: dreamed of making driving safer before cars were even on 7 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:43,519 Speaker 1: the road. The day was November tenth three. Alabama native 8 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: Mary Anderson was awarded a patent for her early design 9 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: of windshield wipers. She didn't use that term though. Instead 10 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,000 Speaker 1: the patent refers to her invention as a quote window 11 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:01,560 Speaker 1: cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice, 12 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:04,959 Speaker 1: or sleet from the window, which is a bit of 13 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: a mouthful. As an independent woman at the turn of 14 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,280 Speaker 1: the century, Mary Anderson was always going to have a 15 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: hard time selling her ideas to the public. A catchier 16 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,680 Speaker 1: name probably wouldn't have fixed that, but it also couldn't 17 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: have heard. The woman behind the window cleaning device was 18 00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:28,240 Speaker 1: born on February eighteen sixty six on a plantation in 19 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: Greene County, Alabama. In eighteen eighty nine, Mary moved with 20 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: her sister and mother to Birmingham, Soon after they arrived, 21 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 1: they built and operated the Fairmont Apartments building using proceeds 22 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:45,559 Speaker 1: from the sale of the family plantation. By the winter 23 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: of nineteen o three, Mary had received a sizeable inheritance 24 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: from her aunt and was eager to have some fun 25 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:55,080 Speaker 1: with it by taking a trip to New York City. 26 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 1: While touring the Big Apple on an especially snowy day, 27 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: Mary hipped on a street car to get out of 28 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: the cold. That's when she noticed that the man driving 29 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,399 Speaker 1: the trolley could barely see through the wet windshield. At 30 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,080 Speaker 1: the time, a trolley car's front window was split into 31 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: multiple panes of glass that the driver could open and 32 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 1: move out of the way when they became covered in 33 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 1: rain or snow. As you might imagine, the multi pane 34 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: windshield didn't work well in practice. Opening the panels exposed 35 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 1: the driver's face and those of all the passengers sitting 36 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:35,800 Speaker 1: behind him to the bad weather outside. That may have 37 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: been worth the discomfort if the system actually helped the 38 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: driver see better, but of course it didn't because there 39 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: was still a storm outside whether the windshield was open 40 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: or not. The workaround for most trolley car drivers was 41 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: to stick their heads out of the window to see 42 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: where they were going. The other option was to stop 43 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: periodically to clean the windshield, which inevitably slowed down the service. 44 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: That day in New York, Mary observed what a hassle 45 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:07,520 Speaker 1: all of this was for the driver and for her 46 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:11,480 Speaker 1: fellow passengers. She began to dream up a better solution 47 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: during the ride, and when she returned to Alabama, she 48 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: started sketching up concepts for a more practical way to 49 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:22,399 Speaker 1: clean a windshield. The design she settled on was an 50 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: arm on the outside window with a rubber blade attached. 51 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: The arm was connected to a lever on the interior 52 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,200 Speaker 1: of the vehicle, which was waited to ensure the blade 53 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: maintained contact with the glass. When the driver pulled on 54 00:03:37,480 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 1: the spring loaded lever, the blade outside would swing back 55 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: and forth, clearing the windshield. Unlike the wipers of today, 56 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: Mary's design wasn't a built in mechanism. When winter was over, 57 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 1: you could easily remove it until the following year, or 58 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: whenever it happened to rain next. Similar concepts had been 59 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,440 Speaker 1: proposed before, but Mary's was the first to work effectively. 60 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: She filed for a patent in June of nine oh three, 61 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: and it was granted five months later, you might expect 62 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: that Mary made a fortune off her clearly useful invention, 63 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: but try as she might, she couldn't find any takers 64 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,520 Speaker 1: for the idea. She approached numerous companies but was turned 65 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: down every time. The rejection letter she received from a 66 00:04:24,880 --> 00:04:31,039 Speaker 1: Canadian manufacturing firm explains why no one was interested. It says, quote, 67 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: we beg to acknowledge receipt of your recent favor with 68 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: reference to the sale of your patent. In reply, we 69 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: regret to state we do not consider it to be 70 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:45,840 Speaker 1: of such commercial value as would warrant our understanding its sale. 71 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: In other words, the company didn't think anyone would buy 72 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: when shield wipers. That sounds absurd today now that they've 73 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: become a standard feature on every vehicle on the road, 74 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: but Mary was way ahead of the curve of when 75 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: proposing her idea. At the time, cars still weren't a 76 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: common form of transportation. In fact, it would be another 77 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: five years before Henry Ford began selling the Model T 78 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 1: Since the majority of people in the US didn't own 79 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: a car, that left public transit like trolley cars as 80 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: the primary market, and corporations just didn't think there was 81 00:05:22,880 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: enough money there to be worth the trouble. The short 82 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:30,120 Speaker 1: sighted consensus was that the wipers weren't useful, but some 83 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: people insisted they were all so dangerous, claiming the movement 84 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:37,599 Speaker 1: of the blades would distract the driver. With no one 85 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,480 Speaker 1: to make and distribute her invention, Mary eventually gave up 86 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 1: on selling it all together. In nineteen seventeen, another female 87 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:50,359 Speaker 1: inventor named Charlotte Bridgewood patented a different take on the 88 00:05:50,440 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: system that used rollers instead of blades. Sadly, her design 89 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:57,880 Speaker 1: never made it off the drawing board either. By the 90 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: time Mary's patent expire in nineteen twenty, the use of 91 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: automobiles was far more commonplace. This made the need for 92 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: windshield wipers more apparent than ever, but Mary decided she 93 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:15,520 Speaker 1: wouldn't be the one to fill that need. Other entrepreneurs 94 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: and companies happily joined the fray in her stead, some 95 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,640 Speaker 1: of which even used her design since it was no 96 00:06:21,680 --> 00:06:27,040 Speaker 1: longer under protection. In nineteen twenty two, Cadillac made windshield 97 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:30,680 Speaker 1: wipers a standard feature for all of its cars, and 98 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:33,680 Speaker 1: the rest of the automotive industry did the same soon after. 99 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 1: Not much is known about Mary Anderson's later life, though 100 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: she did live another thirty three years after her patent expired, 101 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,200 Speaker 1: she continued to manage the building where she and her 102 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:50,039 Speaker 1: family lived, and on June nineteen fifty three, she died 103 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: at their summer home in Tennessee. She didn't get the 104 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:57,359 Speaker 1: success her invention deserved, but decades later she did at 105 00:06:57,440 --> 00:07:01,839 Speaker 1: least get recognition for it. In Twin eleven, Mary Anderson 106 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: was inducted into the Inventor's Hall of Fame, taking her 107 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: place alongside famous innovators such as Thomas Edison and Henry 108 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: Ford himself. Today, Mary's ingenuity continues to be an inspiration 109 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: to young inventors and to her family, including her great 110 00:07:18,960 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: great niece, Reverend Sarah Scott Wingo. In a interview, she 111 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: told NPR quote, we're all really proud of her. I 112 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: have three daughters, and we talk about Mary Anderson a lot. 113 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:34,480 Speaker 1: We all sort of feel like we want to be 114 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: open and receptive to our own Mary Anderson moments. And yeah, 115 00:07:40,280 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 1: that's good advice for anyone, because you never do know 116 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: when inspiration might strike. I'm Gabe Lousier, and hopefully you 117 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 118 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up with the show, 119 00:07:56,840 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. T 120 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:04,120 Speaker 1: d i HC Show, and if you have any comments 121 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: or suggestions, please send them to me at this day 122 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: at i heeart media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays 123 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: for producing the show, and thank you for listening. I'll 124 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: see you back here again tomorrow for another day in 125 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:27,680 Speaker 1: History class. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit 126 00:08:27,680 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 127 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.