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Mary Anderson

Windshield Wiper

• Mary was visiting New York City from her native Alabama in 1903 when she noticed streetcar drivers had to open their windows to clean the snow off the windshields. She had an idea for an automatic wiper and her invention was started!

• Her invention could clean snow, rain, or sleet from a windshield by using a handle inside the car. Her goal was to improve driver vision during stormy weather. As a solution, she invented a swinging arm device with a rubber blade that was operated by the driver from within the vehicle via a lever.

• The windshield wipers became standard equipment on all American cars by 1916.