We are here to offer some monthly tips, tricks and tales from the automotive industry. Whether you are fellow gearheads, garage aficionados, or maybe you think about blinker fluid (Hint, Hint, you don’t have any blinker fluid), we are here for you. We are Jimmy & Leigh-Ann of Shift’N Gears Garage, an ASE Master Certified full service auto repair shop.
Thankful for the small things — windshield wipers:
It’s Turkey month, and a blatant reminder to be thankful for our loved ones and all the things in our life that help us get through the days and months safely and happily. It’s easy with the hustle of daily life, to overlook the essential, little things that make our journeys smoother — like windshield wipers. These humble devices are often taken for granted, but imagine driving without them!
Windshield wipers or windscreen hand apparatuses were previously invented and commonly used in other countries before 1903. Countries that used them included England, Poland, and Ireland. The story of the American windshield wipers begins in 1903, thanks to an idea sparked by a New York rancher woman named Mary Anderson, who saw a need, and simply took action. She patented the first mechanical windshield wiper: a lever inside the car that controlled a rubber blade on the outside.
It wasn’t until 1917, when another innovator from Canada, a vaudeville performer named Charlotte Bridgwood, introduced the first electric windshield wiper. Although this design didn’t gain traction at first, it took off in the 1920s.
In 1917, Tri-Continental Corporation took Bridgwood’s invention and created their own version. Today Trico is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of wipers and Bosch has the world’s biggest windscreen wiper factory in Belgium, which produces 350,000 wiper blades every day.
Today, we have intermittent wipers, rain-sensing technology, and even heated wipers for icy conditions. But despite all these advancements, the basic concept remains the same: a small, simple device that makes a big difference in keeping drivers safe.
As we remember to be thankful for the small and the big things, let a piece of automotive history remind us how even the simplest innovations can have a profound impact.
Jimmy & Leigh-Ann, along with all of their team want to thank all of you for your continued support this year. For those of you that don’t know what all the “Hoopla” is about, give us a call and let us show you how we are SHIFTING EXPECTATIONS in the auto industry.
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