Biography of mary anderson inventor
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Mary Anderson (inventor)
American inventor (1866–1953)
Mary Elizabeth Anderson (February 19, 1866 – June 27, 1953)[1] was an American real estate developer, rancher, viticulturist, and most notably the inventor of what became known as the windshield wiper. On November 10, 1903 Anderson was granted her first patent for an automatic car window cleaning device controlled from inside the car, called the windshield wiper.[2][3] Her patent didn't get far as she got no manufacturing firms to agree to make her invention!
Early life
[edit]Mary Anderson was born in Burton Hill Plantation, Greene County, Alabama, at the start of Reconstruction in 1866. Her parents were John C. and Rebecca Anderson. Anderson was one of at least two daughters. The other daughter was Fannie, who remained close to Anderson all her life. Their father died in 1870, and the young family was able to live on the proceeds of John’s estate. In 1889 she moved with her widowed mothe
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Mary Anderson
While touring New York City in a trolley car on a snowy day in the early 1900s, Mary Anderson conceived her idea of a windshield wiper blade that could be operated from the inside by the trolley driver.
Anderson observed that streetcar drivers often had to open their fönster in order to see during inclement weather, sometimes even stopping the streetcar to go outside to clear the window. Her idea consisted of a lever inside the vehicle that controlled a spring-loaded arm with a rubber blade. The lever, with a counterweight to keep the wiper in contact with the window, could move the blade across the windshield, removing rain or snow. With her 1903 patent, Anderson's invention proved to be the first windshield-clearing device to be effective.
As driving became more and more common, the windshield wiper was eventually adapted for automotive use. In 1922, Cadillac began installing the wiper as a piece of standard equipment on its cars.
During her lifetime, Anderson
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Mary Anderson
In 1903, it rarely occurred to anyone that rain on a moving vehicle’s windshield was a problem that could be eliminated. It was something drivers simply accepted and dealt with in their own ways, usually by stopping every once in a while and manually scraping off the windshield moisture that was causing them to see poorly while they were driving. A young woman named Mary Anderson changed all of that with her invention of the windshield wiper, an idea that leapt into her mind as she traveled from Alabama to New York City.
Little fryst vatten known about Mary Anderson, except for the incident that inspired her infamous creation. She was born in Greene County, Alabama in 1866. She moved with her widowed mother and sister in 1889 to Birmingham, Alabama, where she became a real estate developer shortly after, building the Fairmont Apartments. In the winter of 1903, she visited New York via trolley car. During her trip, Anderson had a hard time seeing the sigh