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Her invention was patented November 10, 1903

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While traveling in NYC, Mary Anderson noticed that her taxi driver had to open the windows in order to see in the snow.

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On this day, the patent office awards U.S. Patent No. 743,801 to a Birmingham, Alabama woman named Mary Anderson for her "window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice or sleet from the window." When she received her patent, Anderson tried to sell it to a Canadian manufacturing firm, but the company refused: The device had no practical value, it said, and so was not worth any money. Though mechanical windshield wipers were standard equipment in passenger cars by around 1913, Anderson never profited from the invention.

As the story goes, on a freezing, wet winter day around the turn of the century, Mary Anderson was riding a streetcar on a visit to New York City when she noticed that the driver could hardly see through his sleet-encrusted front windshield. Although the trolley's front window was designed for bad-weather visibility-it was split into parts so that the driver could open it, moving the snow- or rain-covered section out of his line of vision-in fact the multi-pane windshield system worked very poorly. It exposed the driver's uncovered face (not to mention all the passengers sitting in the front of the trolley) to the inclement weather, and did not improve his ability to see where he was going in any case.

Anderson began to sketch her wiper device right there on the streetcar. After a number of false starts, she came up with a prototype that worked: a set of wiper arms that were made of wood and rubber and attached to a lever near the steering wheel of the drivers' side. When the driver pulled the lever, she dragged the spring-loaded arm across the window and back again, clearing away raindrops, snowflakes or other debris. When winter was over, Anderson's wipers could be removed and stored until the next year. (This feature was presumably designed to appeal to people who lived in places where it did not rain in the summertime.)

People scoffed at Anderson's invention, saying that the wipers' movement would distract the driver and cause accidents. Her patent expired before she could entice anyone to use her idea.

In 1917, a woman named Charlotte Bridgewood patented the "Electric Storm Windshield Cleaner," an automatic wiper system that used rollers instead of blades. (Bridgewood's daughter, the actress Florence Lawrence, had invented the turn signal.) Like Anderson, Bridgewood never made any money from her invention.

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Mary Anderson patents windshield wiper - Nov 10, 1903 - HISTORY.com

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On this day, the patent office awards U.S. Patent No. 743,801 to a Birmingham, Alabama woman named Mary Anderson for her "window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice or sleet from the window."

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Mary Anderson invented the windshield wipers in 1903.

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You may have never heard of Mary Anderson, but you've probably used her invention thousands of times in your life!

One frosty day in 1903, Mary Anderson (1866-1953), a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was visiting New York City via a trolley car. She was trying to catch all the sights of the city's crowded streets, tall buildings, and horseless carriages, but she had a hard time seeing them because of the snowy weather.

Mary noticed that the driver was also having difficulty seeing through the sleet and snow. Every few minutes, the driver would have to reach through his window to wipe the snow and sleet off the windshield by hand. Sometimes he would even have to stick his head out the window while driving in order to see! Forgetting about the sights around her, Mary started thinking about how the driver could stay warm inside the vehicle without worrying about the snow piling up on his windshield.

As soon as she went back home, she started working out her idea for the first windshield wipers. Mary Anderson envisioned a device that would attach to the outside of the car, with a long spring-loaded arm with a rubber blade. The driver could turn a handle from inside the vehicle to move the arm and wipe the snow off the windshield, without having to stick his hand out in the freezing weather.

Mary filed for a patent for the first windshield wipers in 1903, and tried to sell her device to several companies, who all rejected her invention. At first, people didn't see the value of her invention and thought it would just distract drivers. Mary was ahead of her time; in the early 20th century many cars didn't go fast enough to even need windshields, and outside major cities few people even owned cars. Car safety didn't really become a priority until the 1950s (when safer brakes and seatbelts were invented).

Mary Anderson's invention was forgotten, until her patent lapsed and others were able to copy her idea. By the 40s and 50s, when cars were much more common and affordable, windshield wipers were standard on most vehicles, and they're now usually a legal requirement.

Bonus fact: The first automatic windshield wipers were also invented by a woman, Charlotte Bridgwood, who filed a patent for her invention in 1917. Her invention, like Mary's, was not a commercial success.

Recommended Reading

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Mary Anderson, inventor - Amazing Women In History

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You may have never heard of Mary Anderson, but you've probably used her invention thousands of times in your life! One frosty day in 1903, Mary Anderson (1866-1953), a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was visiting New York City via a trolley car. She was trying to catch all the sights of the city's crowded streets, ...

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February 19, 1866-June 27, 1953