Mary Anderson
Anderson, c. 1910
Born	Mary Anderson February 19, 1866 Greene County, Alabama
Died	June 27, 1953(1953-06-27) (aged 87) Monteagle, Tennessee
Occupation(s)	Real estate developer, rancher, viticulturist, inventor
Known for	Invention of the windshield wiper

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]

Early life

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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 mother and sister to the booming town of Birmingham, Alabama. Anderson’s education is unknown. She never married nor had any children.^[4]^[5]

In Birmingham, Anderson became a real estate developer soon after settling and built the Fairmont Apartments on Highland Avenue. In 1893, Anderson left Birmingham to operate a cattle ranch and vineyard in Fresno, California. In 1898, she returned to Birmingham to help care for an ailing aunt. Anderson and her aunt moved into the Fairmont Apartments with Anderson’s mother, her sister Fannie, and Fannie’s husband G. P. Thornton. Anderson’s ailing aunt brought a trunk with her that contained a collection of gold and jewelry. From that time forward, Anderson’s family lived comfortably.^[5]

Invention (windshield wipers)

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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. ^[6]

Around 1900, it is said that Anderson came into a large inheritance from an aunt. Eager to make exciting use of the money, she took a trip to New York City during the thick of winter in 1903.^[7] During her trip, Anderson had a hard time seeing the sights because of harsh weather. Her driver even had a hard time seeing clearly too. In order to see, her driver drove with both windows open and would wipe down the snow and ice off the windshields with his hands. Anderson decided this method could be improved. ^[6] In 1902,^[8] she visited to New York City in the winter. Anderson sat in a trolley car on a frosty day. Anderson observed that the trolley car driver struggled to see past the windows because of the falling sleet. Every few minutes, the driver had to reach through an opening in the glass to wipe the snow off the windshield.^[9] The trolley car’s front window was designed for bad-weather visibility, but its multi-pane windshield system worked very poorly. Therefore, to clear the sights, the driver needed to open the window, lean out of the vehicle, or stop the car to go outside in order to wipe the windscreen with his or her hands. Anderson observed the agitated and uncomfortable behavior of the vehicle’s cold driver, who had to rely on all sorts of tricks like sticking his head out of the window, stopping the vehicle to clean the windshield in order to see where he was driving.^[10] Anderson, who was not an engineer but an entrepreneur, identified the problem and its opportunity. She envisioned a windshield wiper blade that the trolley driver could operate from the inside. At that time, it rarely occurred to anyone else to eliminate the problem. It was something drivers simply accepted and dealt with.^[11]^[12]

As a Southern woman, Anderson found the problem of the shivering driver novel to her and when she returned to Alabama, the problem stuck with her.^[13] When she returned to Alabama, she drew up a sketch for a wiper blade that could be operated from inside a vehicle and wrote up the description. Her original solution was a “squeegee blade with a spindle attached to one end that passed through a hole in the top corner of the windscreen frame and was attached to a handle on the inside.^[14] Later, as technology developed, the windshield wiper became operated by an electric motor, but it is still a squeegee on a spindle.^[15]She also hired a designer for a hand-operated device to keep a windshield clear and had a local company produce a working model. Her device consisted of a lever inside the vehicle that controlled a rubber blade on the outside of the windshield. The lever could be operated to cause the spring-loaded arm to move back and forth across the windshield. A counterweight was used to ensure contact between the wiper and the window. The device could be easily removed if desired after the winter was over.^[16] The lever could be operated to cause the spring-loaded arm to move back and forth across the windshield. A counterweight was used to ensure contact between the wiper and the window. The device could be easily removed if desired after the winter was over. For her “window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles to remove snow, ice, or sleet from the window,” Anderson was awarded U.S. Patent No. 743,801.^[17] Similar devices had been made earlier, but Anderson's was the first windshield clearing device to be effective. Anderson’s simple mechanism and basic design have remained much the same, but unlike today’s windscreen wipers, Anderson’s could be removed when not needed.^[18]^[12]

She then applied for, and in 1903 was granted, a 17-year patent for a windshield wiper. The patent application was filed on June 18, 1903. On November 10, 1903, the United States Patent Office awarded Anderson patent number 743,801 for her Window Cleaning device.^[8]^[1]

In 1903 when Anderson applied for the patent, cars were not very popular. Henry Ford’s Model A automobile had not been manufactured yet. Therefore, when Anderson tried to sell the rights to her invention through a noted Canadian firm of Dinning and Eckenstein in 1905, they rejected her application. They argued, "we do not consider it to be of such commercial value as would warrant our undertaking its sale." Furthermore, many could not see the value of her invention and stressed the risk that the driver would be distracted by operating the device and the moving wipers.^[18]Many people were initially leery of Anderson’s windshield wiper invention, thinking it would distract drivers, but by 1916, windshield wipers were standard on most vehicles.^[17]Her idea was even credited to a man, and many did not know that a woman had created it years before.^[9]

By 1913, the automobile manufacturing business had grown exponentially and windshield wipers were standard equipment.^[18] In 1922, Cadillac became the first car manufacturer to adopt them as standard equipment.^[12] However, Anderson never profited from her invention or was given an recognition.^[8] Giving up on partnering with companies to manufacture her invention, the patent expiring in 1920.^[19]^[1] According to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, her invention was simply ahead of its time, and other companies and entrepreneurs were able to profit off her original ideas.^[19]

In 1917, Charlotte Bridgewood patented the “electric storm windshield cleaner,” the first automatic wiper system that used rollers instead of blades.^[20]^[21] Like Anderson, Bridgewood never made any money from her invention. Following Anderson was also another woman who had invented and patented the first automated windshield wiper in 1917 (Charlotte Bridgwood’s “Storm Windshield Cleaner”). Like Anderson, Bridgwood never made any money from her invention. Sara-Scott Wingo, rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Richmond, Va., and Anderson’s great-great niece suspect Anderson’s invention never went anywhere because Anderson was an independent woman. Wingo said in an interview with NPR News, “She didn't have a father. She didn't have a husband. And the world was kind of run by men back then.”^[8]

Later life

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By the 1920s, Anderson’s brother-in-law had died, and Anderson was again living in the Fairmont Apartments in Birmingham with her sister Fannie and her mother. She continued to manage the Fairmont Apartments until her death at the age of 87. At the time of her death, she was the oldest member of South Highland Presbyterian Church. She died at her summer home in Monteagle, Tennessee. Her funeral was conducted by Dr. Frank A. Mathes at South Highland and she was buried at Elmwood Cemetery.^[1]^[5]

Legacy

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In 2011 Anderson was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.^[12] With minimal mention or recognition until 2011, thankfully Anderson’s sketch provides a glimpse of her entrepreneurial spirit and ambition. Rini Paiva, executive vice president at the National Inventors Hall of Fame said, "She was persistent, she was forward-thinking, and she had the drive to follow up on an idea."^[19]

References

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^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Obituary Archived 2011-07-08 at the Wayback Machine, Birmingham Post-Herald, June 29, 1953
^ United States Patent 743,801, Issue Date: November 10, 1903
^ Women Hold Patents on Important Inventions; USPTO recognizes inventive women during Women's History Month Archived 2009-05-11 at the Wayback Machine, United States Patent and Trademark Office press release #02-16, March 1, 2002, accessed March 3, 2009
^ Carey, Charles W. (May 14, 2014). American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8160-6883-8. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bellis, Mary. "Biography of Mary Anderson, Inventor of the Windshield Wiper". ThoughtCo. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Mary Anderson | Lemelson". lemelson.mit.edu. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). www.researchgate.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Palca, Joe (July 25, 2017). "Alabama Woman Stuck In NYC Traffic In 1902 Invented The Windshield Wiper". Morning Edition. National Public Radio. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
^ ^a ^b Blashfield, Jean F. (1996). Women Inventors 2. Capstone. ISBN 978-1-56065-275-5.
^ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). www.researchgate.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
^ Slater, Dashka, "Who made that? Windshield Wiper", New York Times Magazine, September 14, 2014, p. 22
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "NIHF Inductee Mary Anderson, Who Invented Windshield Wipers". National Inventors Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on June 5, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
^ Blashfield, Jean F. (1996). Women Inventors 2. Capstone. ISBN 978-1-56065-275-5.
^ Jaffé, Deborah (January 1, 2010), Wynarczyk, Pooran; Marlow, Susan (eds.), "Chapter 8 Ingenious women", Innovating Women: Contributions to Technological Advancement, Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research, vol. 1, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 153–182, doi:10.1108/s2040-7246(2010)0000001013, ISBN 978-0-85724-335-5, retrieved April 4, 2025
^ Jaffé, Deborah (January 1, 2010), Wynarczyk, Pooran; Marlow, Susan (eds.), "Chapter 8 Ingenious women", Innovating Women: Contributions to Technological Advancement, Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research, vol. 1, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 153–182, doi:10.1108/s2040-7246(2010)0000001013, ISBN 978-0-85724-335-5, retrieved April 4, 2025
^ "Mary Anderson | Lemelson". lemelson.mit.edu. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
^ ^a ^b "Wayback Machine" (PDF). www.researchgate.net. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Mary Anderson: Windshield Wipers". lemelson.mit.edu. September 2001. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c Shell, Adam (October 4, 2022). "Who Invented The Windshield Wiper? Hint: It Wasn't A Man". Investor's Business Daily. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
^ "On the Road: Innovations Lead to Safety". Professional Safety. 56 (2). 2011.
^ Scoltock, J. (2011). "Mary Anderson". Automative Engineer. 7.

External links

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Famous Women Inventors

Mary Anderson (inventor)

Mary Anderson (inventor)