A windscreen wiper, windshield wiper, wiper blade (
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
), or simply wiper, is a device used to remove rain, snow, ice, washer fluid, water, or debris from a
vehicle's front window. Almost all
motor vehicle
A motor vehicle, also known as motorized vehicle or automotive vehicle, is a self-propelled land vehicle, commonly wheeled, that does not operate on Track (rail transport), rails (such as trains or trams) and is used for the transportation of pe ...
s, including
car
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarded as ...
s,
truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...
s,
bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es,
train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...
locomotive
A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the Power (physics), motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, Motor coach (rail), motor ...
s, and
watercraft
Any vehicle used in or on water as well as underwater, including boats, ships, hovercraft and submarines, is a watercraft, also known as a water vessel or waterborne vessel. A watercraft usually has a propulsive capability (whether by sail, ...
with a
cabin—and some
aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
—are equipped with one or more such wipers, which are usually a legal requirement.
A wiper generally consists of a metal arm; one end
pivots, and the other end has a long rubber blade attached to it. The arm is powered by a
motor
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power g ...
, often an
electric motor
An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...
, although
pneumatic power
Fluid power is the use of fluids under pressure to generate, control, and transmit power. Fluid power is subdivided into hydraulics using a liquid such as mineral oil or water, and pneumatics using a gas such as air or other gases. Compressed-a ...
is also used for some vehicles. The blade is swung back and forth over the glass, pushing water, other
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
, or any other impediments to visibility from its surface. The speed is usually adjustable on vehicles made after 1969, with several continuous rates and often one or more ''intermittent'' settings. Most personal automobiles use two synchronized ''radial''-type arms, while many commercial vehicles use one or more ''
pantograph
A pantograph (, from their original use for copying writing) is a mechanical linkage connected in a manner based on parallelograms so that the movement of one pen, in tracing an image, produces identical movements in a second pen. If a line dr ...
'' arms.
On some vehicles, a windscreen washer system is also used to improve and expand the function of the wiper(s) to dry or icy conditions. This system sprays water, or an
antifreeze
An antifreeze is an additive which lowers the freezing point of a water-based liquid. An antifreeze mixture is used to achieve freezing-point depression for cold environments. Common antifreezes also increase the boiling point of the liquid, all ...
window washer fluid, at the windscreen using several well-positioned
nozzle
A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe.
A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, a ...
s. This system helps remove dirt or dust from the windscreen when used in concert with the wiper blades. When antifreeze washer fluid is used, it can help the wipers remove snow or ice. For these types of winter conditions, some vehicles have additional
heaters
A heater is an appliance whose purpose is to generate heat for a building.
Heater or Heaters may also refer to:
Science, technology and engineering
* Central heating, a system used to heat an entire building
Devices
* Aquarium heater, in fishkee ...
aimed at the windows, embedded
heating wire(s) in the glass, or embedded
heating wire(s) in the wiper blade; these
defroster systems can melt ice or help to keep snow and ice from building up on the windscreen. Less frequently, miniature wipers are installed on
headlight
A headlamp is a lamp (electrical component), lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage (language), usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the ...
s to ensure they function optimally.
History
Early versions
One of the earliest recorded patents for the windscreen wiper is by George J. Capewell of Hartford Connecticut, which was filed on August 6, 1896. His invention was for an automated, motorised, wiper for "cars, locomotives, and such land-vehicles".
Other early designs for the windscreen wiper are credited to Polish concert
pianist
A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...
Józef Hofmann
Josef Casimir Hofmann (originally Józef Kazimierz Hofmann; January 20, 1876February 16, 1957) was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor.
Biography
Josef Hofmann was born in Podgórze (a district of Kraków), in A ...
, and to Mills Munitions,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, who also claimed to have been the first to patent windscreen wipers in England.
At least three inventors patented windscreen cleaning devices at around the same time in 1903;
Mary Anderson, Robert Douglass, and John Apjohn. In April 1911, a patent for windscreen wipers was registered by Sloan & Lloyd Barnes, patent agents of Liverpool, England, for
Gladstone Adams
Captain Gladstone Adams (16 May 1880 – 26 July 1966) was a professional photographer and chairman of Whitley Bay Urban District Council, and is one of several people claimed to have invented the windscreen wiper (known in the United States as th ...
of
Whitley Bay
Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around eas ...
.
American inventor
Mary Anderson is popularly credited with devising the first operational windscreen wiper in 1903.
In Anderson's patent, she called her invention a "window cleaning device" for electric cars and other vehicles. Operated via a lever from inside a vehicle, her version of windscreen wipers closely resembles the windscreen wiper found on many early car models. Anderson had a model of her design manufactured, then filed a patent (US 743,801) on June 18, 1903 that was issued to her by the US Patent Office on November 10, 1903.
Irish born inventor James Henry Apjohn (1845–1914) patented an "Apparatus for Cleaning Carriage, Motor Car and other Windows" which was stated to use either brushes or wipers and could be either motor driven or hand driven. The brushes or wipers were intended to clean either both up and down or in just one direction on a vertical window. Apjohn's invention had a priority date in the UK of 9 October 1903.
John R. Oishei (1886-1968) formed the Tri-Continental Corporation in 1917. This company introduced the first windscreen wiper, Rain Rubber, for the slotted, two-piece windscreens found on many of the automobiles of the time. Today
Trico
Trico is an American company that specializes in windshield wipers. Trico, then known as Tri-Continental Corporation, invented the windshield wiper blade in 1917. Its original Trico Plant No. 1 is listed on the National Register of Historic Plac ...
Products is one of the world's largest manufacturers of windscreen wipers.
Bosch has the world's biggest windscreen wiper factory in
Tienen
Tienen (; french: Tirlemont ) is a city and municipality in the province of Flemish Brabant, in Flanders, Belgium. The municipality comprises Tienen itself and the towns of Bost, Goetsenhoven, Hakendover, Kumtich, Oorbeek, Oplinter, Sint-Marg ...
, Belgium, which produces 350,000 wiper blades every day. The first automatic electric wiper arms were patented in 1917 by Charlotte Bridgwood.
Inventor William M. Folberth and his brother, Fred, applied for a patent for an automatic windscreen wiper apparatus in 1919, which was granted in 1921.
It was the first automatic mechanism to be developed by an American, but the original invention is attributed by others to Hawaiian, Ormand Wall.
Trico later settled a patent dispute with Folberth and purchased Folberth's Cleveland company, the Folberth Auto Specialty Co. The new vacuum-powered system quickly became standard equipment on automobiles, and the vacuum principle was in use until about 1960. In the late 1950s, a feature common on modern vehicles first appeared, operating the wipers automatically for two or three passes when the windscreen washer button was pressed, making it unnecessary to manually turn the wipers on as well. Today, an electronic timer is used, but originally a small vacuum cylinder mechanically linked to a switch provided the delay as the vacuum leaked off.
Intermittent wipers
The
inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...
of intermittent wipers (non-continuous, now including variable-rate wipers) might have been Raymond Anderson, who, in 1923, proposed an
electro-mechanical
In engineering, electromechanics combines processes and procedures drawn from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Electromechanics focuses on the interaction of electrical and mechanical systems as a whole and how the two systems ...
design. (US Patent 1,588,399). In 1958, Oishei et al. filed a
patent application
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for an invention described in the patent specification and a set of one or more claims stated in a formal document, including necessary official forms and re ...
describing not only electro-mechanical, but also
thermal
A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...
and
hydraulic
Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counter ...
designs. (US Patent 2,987,747). Then, in 1961, John Amos, an engineer for the UK
automotive engineering
Automotive engineering, along with aerospace engineering and naval architecture, is a branch of vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software, and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufactu ...
company
Lucas Industries
Lucas Industries plc was a Birmingham-based British manufacturer of motor industry and aerospace industry components. Once prominent, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was formerly a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In August 199 ...
, filed the first patent application in the UK for a
solid-state electronic
Solid-state electronics means semiconductor electronics: electronic equipment using semiconductor devices such as transistors, diodes and integrated circuits (ICs). The term is also used as an adjective for devices in which semiconductor electr ...
design. (US patent 3,262,042).
In 1963, another form of intermittent wiper was invented by
Robert Kearns
Robert William Kearns (March 10, 1927 – February 9, 2005) was an American engineer, educator and inventor who invented the most common intermittent windshield wiper systems used on most automobiles from 1969 to the present. His first pat ...
, an
engineering professor
Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional development, professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (Bachelor's degree, bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any ...
at
Wayne State University
Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...
in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
, Michigan.
(United States Patent 3,351,836 – 1964 filing date). Kearns's design was intended to mimic the function of the
human eye
The human eye is a sensory organ, part of the sensory nervous system, that reacts to visible light and allows humans to use visual information for various purposes including seeing things, keeping balance, and maintaining circadian rhythm.
...
, which
blinks only once every few seconds. In 1963, Kearns built his first intermittent wiper system using off-the-shelf electronic components. The interval between wipes was determined by the
rate of current flow into a capacitor; when the charge in the
capacitor
A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.
The effect of ...
reached a certain
voltage
Voltage, also known as electric pressure, electric tension, or (electric) potential difference, is the difference in electric potential between two points. In a static electric field, it corresponds to the work needed per unit of charge to m ...
, the capacitor would be discharged, activating one cycle of the wiper motor, and then repeating the process. Kearns showed his wiper design to the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
and proposed that they manufacture the design. Ford
executives rejected Kearns' proposal at the time, but later offered a similar design as an option on the company's
Mercury line, beginning with the 1969 models.
Kearns sued Ford in a multi-year
patent dispute that Kearns eventually won in court, inspiring the
2009 feature film ''
Flash of Genius
In United States patent law, the flash of genius doctrine was a test for patentability used by the United States Federal Courts for just over a decade, beginning circa 1940.
Origin
The doctrine was formalized by the Supreme Court's opinion in '' ...
'' based on a 1993
New Yorker
New Yorker or ''variant'' primarily refers to:
* A resident of the State of New York
** Demographics of New York (state)
* A resident of New York City
** List of people from New York City
* ''The New Yorker'', a magazine founded in 1925
* ''The New ...
article that covered the legal battle.
In March 1970, French automotive manufacturer
Citroën
Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
introduced more advanced
rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
-sensitive intermittent windscreen wipers on its
SM model. When the intermittent function was selected, the wiper would make one sweep. If the windscreen was relatively dry, the wiper motor drew high
current
Currents, Current or The Current may refer to:
Science and technology
* Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas
** Air current, a flow of air
** Ocean current, a current in the ocean
*** Rip current, a kind of water current
** Current (stre ...
, which would set the control
circuit timer to a long delay for the next wipe. If the motor drew little current, it indicated that the glass was still wet, and would set the timer to minimize the delay.
Power
Wipers may be powered by a variety of means, although most in use today are powered by an
electric motor
An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...
through a series of mechanical components, typically two
4-bar linkages in series or
parallel
Parallel is a geometric term of location which may refer to:
Computing
* Parallel algorithm
* Parallel computing
* Parallel metaheuristic
* Parallel (software), a UNIX utility for running programs in parallel
* Parallel Sysplex, a cluster of ...
.
Vehicles with air-operated brakes sometimes use
pneumatic
Pneumatics (from Greek ‘wind, breath’) is a branch of engineering that makes use of gas or pressurized air.
Pneumatic systems used in Industrial sector, industry are commonly powered by compressed air or compressed inert gases. A central ...
wipers, powered by tapping a small amount of pressurized air from the brake system to a small air operated motor mounted on or just above the windscreen. These wipers are activated by opening a valve which allows pressurized air to enter the motor.
Early wipers were often driven by a
vacuum motor
A vacuum engine (also called flame-licker engine, flame-engine, flame-dancer) derives its force from air pressure against one side of the piston, which has a partial vacuum on the other side of it. At the beginning of an outstroke, a valve in the ...
powered by
manifold vacuum
Manifold vacuum, or engine vacuum in an internal combustion engine is the difference in air pressure between the engine's intake manifold and Earth's atmosphere.
Manifold vacuum is an effect of a piston's movement on the induction stroke and the ...
. This had the drawback that manifold vacuum varies depending on
throttle
A throttle is the mechanism by which fluid flow is managed by constriction or obstruction.
An engine's power can be increased or decreased by the restriction of inlet gases (by the use of a throttle), but usually decreased. The term ''throttle'' ...
position, and is almost non-existent under wide-open throttle, when the wipers would slow down or even stop. That problem was overcome somewhat by using a combined fuel/vacuum booster pump.
Some cars, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s, had variable-speed, hydraulically-driven wipers, most notably the '61–'69
Lincoln Continental
The Lincoln Continental is a series of mid-sized and full-sized luxury cars produced by Lincoln, a division of the American automaker Ford Motor Company. The model line was introduced following the construction of a personal vehicle for Edse ...
, '69–'71
Lincoln Continental Mark III
The Continental Mark III is a personal luxury car marketed by Lincoln from 1969–1971 model years. The namesake successor of the 1956–1957 Continental Mark II, the Mark III again served as the flagship vehicle of Ford Motor Company. Offered ...
(but not all '70 models), and '63–'71
Ford Thunderbird
The Ford Thunderbird (colloquially called the T-Bird) is a personal luxury car produced by Ford from model years 1955 until 1997 and 2002 until 2005 across 11 distinct generations. Introduced as a two-seat convertible, the Thunderbird was pro ...
. These were powered by the same hydraulic pump also used for the power steering mechanism.
On the earlier
Citroën 2CV
The Citroën 2CV (french: link=no, deux chevaux(-vapeur), , lit. "two steam horse(power)s", meaning "two ''taxable'' horsepower") is an air-cooled front-engine, front-wheel-drive, economy family car, introduced at the 1948 Paris Mondial de l ...
, the windscreen wipers were powered by a purely mechanical system, a cable connected to the transmission; to reduce cost, this cable also powered the speedometer. The wipers' speed was therefore variable with car speed. When the car was stationary, the wipers were not powered, but a handle under the speedometer allowed the driver to power them by hand.
Shape
Most early wipers used a rubber blade attached to a flat metal base. But as aerodynamic and styling concerns introduced curved windshields, these proved insufficient. In 1945, John W. Anderson, founder of Trico rival Anco, filed a patent for a wiper with branched arms to keep the blade pressed uniformly against both curved and flat glass, adaptable to almost any windscreen curvature. As curved windshields became more popular and widespread, following the debut of the 1947 Studebaker Starlight Coupe, these soon became standard equipment. While they have been superseded by "beam-type" wipers with bodies made of flexible material, this type still remains the most popular.
Wiper blades are made of
natural rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...
,
EPDM rubber (or
ethylene propylene rubber
Ethylene propylene rubber (EPR, sometimes called EPM referring to an ASTM standard) is a type of synthetic elastomer that is closely related to EPDM rubber. Since introduction in the 1960s, annual production has increased to 870,000 metric tons. ...
) or a combination of both, as natural rubber performs better in cold weather but EPDM rubber doesn't "set" and resists better to thermal aging,
UV, ozone and tearing.
Some manufacturers coat them with
graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on large ...
.
Geometry
Most wipers are of the pivot (or radial) type: they are attached to a single arm, which in turn is attached to the motor. These are commonly found on many cars, trucks, trains, boats, airplanes, etc.
Modern windscreen wipers usually move in parallel (Fig. 1, below). However, various
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
models and other cars such as the
Volkswagen Sharan
The Volkswagen Sharan is a seven-seater minivan that was produced by the German Volkswagen Group and built at the AutoEuropa plant in Palmela, Portugal, with a front-wheel-drive version across two generations, from 1995 to 2022. Through badge engin ...
employ wipers configured to move in opposite directions (Fig. 2), which is mechanically more complex but can avoid leaving a large unwiped corner of the windscreen in front of the front-seat passenger. A cost benefit to the auto-maker occurs when wipers configured to move in opposite directions do not need to be repositioned for cars exported to
right hand drive
Left-hand traffic (LHT) and right-hand traffic (RHT) are the practices, in bidirectional traffic, of keeping to the left side or to the right side of the road, respectively. They are fundamental to traffic flow, and are sometimes referred to ...
countries such as the UK and Japan.
Another wiper design (Fig. 6) is pantograph-based, used on many commercial vehicles, especially buses with large windscreens. Pantograph wipers feature two arms for each blade, with the blade assembly itself supported on a horizontal bar connecting the two arms. One of the arms is attached to the motor, while the other is on an idle pivot. The pantograph mechanism, while being more complex, allows the blade to cover more of the windscreen on each wipe. However, it also usually requires the wiper to be "parked" in the middle of the windscreen, where it may partially obstruct the driver's view when not in use. A few models of automobile sometimes employ a pantograph arm on the driver's side and a normal arm for the passenger. The Triumph Stag, Lexus and several US makes employ this method to cover more glass area where the windscreen is quite wide but also very shallow. The reduced height of the windscreen would need the use of short wiper arms which would not have the reach to the edge of the windscreen.
A simple single-blade setup with a center pivot (Fig. 4) is commonly used on rear windscreens, as well as on the front of some cars.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
pioneered a system (Fig. 5) called the "Monoblade", based on
cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...
s, in which a single arm extends outward to reach the top corners of the windscreen, and pulls in at the ends and middle of the stroke, sweeping out a somewhat "M"-shaped path. This way, a single blade is able to cover more of the windscreen, displacing any residual streaks away from the centre of the windscreen.
Some larger cars in the late '70s and early '80s, especially
LH driver American cars, had a pantograph wiper on the driver's side, with a conventional pivot on the passenger side. Asymmetric wiper arrangements are usually configured to clear more windscreen area on the driver's side, and so are mostly mirrored for left and right-hand-drive vehicles (for example, Fig. 1 vs. Fig 10). One exception is found on the second generations of the
Renault Clio
The Renault Clio () is a supermini car (B-segment), produced by French automobile manufacturer Renault. It was launched in 1990, and entered its fifth generation in 2019. The Clio has had substantial critical and commercial success, being consis ...
,
Twingo
The Renault Twingo is a four-seater passenger city car manufactured and marketed by the French auto-maker Renault, introduced in 1992 and currently in its third generation.
The first generation Twingo (two door, front engine) debuted at the Pa ...
and
Scénic as well as
BMW's
E60 5 Series and
E63 6 Series, the
Peugeot 206
The Peugeot 206 is a supermini car (B-segment) designed and produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot since May 1998 as a replacement to the Peugeot 205. Developed under the codename ''T1'', it was released in September 1998 in hatchback fo ...
and the
Nissan Almera Tino
The Nissan Almera Tino is a car which was produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan between 1998 and 2006 in Japan, as the Nissan Tino. Nissan's Spanish factory produced the Almera Tino between 2000 and 2006. It has been described as a mini MPV, a ...
, where the wipers always sweep towards the left. On right-hand-drive models, a linkage allows the right-hand wiper to move outwards towards the corner of the windscreen and clear more area.
File:scheibenwischer1.svg, Fig. 1: Most common geometry, found on vast majority of vehicles, mainly LHD cars; RHD Mercedes-Benz W140
The Mercedes-Benz W140 is a series of flagship vehicles manufactured by Mercedes-Benz from 1991 to 1998 in sedan/saloon and coupe body styles and two wheelbase lengths (SE and SEL). Mercedes-Benz unveiled the W140 S-Class at Geneva Motor Show in ...
and some earlier British cars
File:scheibenwischer2.svg, Fig. 2: Widely used alternative configuration suiting either LHD or RHD operation
File:scheibenwischer9.svg, Fig. 3: SEAT Altea
The SEAT Altea is an automobile produced by the Spanish automaker SEAT from 2004 to 2015 being previewed by the Salsa Emoción concept. As a compact multi-purpose vehicle (MPV), the car was designed by the Italian Walter de Silva, and was launc ...
, SEAT León
The SEAT León (), also spelled Leon in some other languages (named after the city of León, which also means "Lion" in Spanish), is a hatchback compact car built by the Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since October 1999.ETKA
The first two León ...
II, SEAT Toledo
The SEAT Toledo is a small family car produced by the Spanish manufacturer SEAT, part of Volkswagen Group. The Toledo name was first introduced to the SEAT line up in May 1991 being named after a Spanish city with the same name, with the fourt ...
III
File:scheibenwischer3.svg, Fig. 4: Simple-arc single-blade system, used on the VAZ-1111 Oka, Fiat Panda
The Fiat Panda is a city car manufactured and marketed by Fiat since 1980, currently in its third generation.
The first generation Panda (Mk 1: 1980–1986 & Mk2: 1986–2003), introduced in 1980, was a two-box, three-door hatchback designed b ...
I/ SEAT Marbella, Fiat Uno, Citroën AX
The Citroën AX is a supermini which was built by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1986 to 1998. It was launched at the 1986 Paris Motor Show to replace the Citroën Visa and Citroën LNA.
Overview
Development of this model started in 19 ...
, Citroën BX
The Citroën BX is a large family car which was produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1982 to 1994. In total, 2,315,739 BXs were built during its 12-year history. The hatchback was discontinued in 1993 with the arrival of the Xantia, ...
, Citroën ZX
The Citroën ZX is a small family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1991 and 1998.
During the beginning of the 1990s, the ZX was Citroën's competitor in the class traditionally dominated in Europe by the Ford Escort and ...
, SEAT Ibiza
The SEAT Ibiza is a supermini car that has been manufactured by Spanish car manufacturer SEAT since 1984. It is SEAT's best-selling car. The Ibiza is named after the Spanish island of Ibiza and was the second SEAT model to be named after a Spa ...
I and 1986-2003 Jaguar XJ
The Jaguar XJ is a series of full-size luxury cars produced by British automobile manufacturer Jaguar Cars (becoming Jaguar Land Rover in 2013) from 1968 to 2019. It was produced across five basic platform generations (debuting in 1968, 1986, 1 ...
s
File:scheibenwischer4.svg, Fig. 5: Complex- or eccentric-arc system, used on the Subaru XT
The Subaru XT was a four-passenger, 2-door coupé manufactured and marketed by Subaru for model years 1985-1991, with a facelift in 1987. Assembly took place at Subaru's Yajima Plant in Ota, Japan and during its single generation, production rea ...
as well as the Mercedes-Benz W124
The Mercedes-Benz W124 is a range of mid-size cars made by Daimler-Benz from 1984 to 1997. The range included numerous body configurations, and though collectively referred to as the W-124, official internal chassis designations varied by body st ...
, R129, W201, W202
Mercedes-Benz W202 is the internal designation for a compact sedan/saloon manufactured and marketed by Mercedes-Benz 1993–2000, as the first generation of the C-Class, now in its fifth generation. Replacing the 190 series/W201 in June 1993, ...
, C208 and W210
The Mercedes-Benz W210 was the internal designation for a range of executive cars manufactured by Mercedes-Benz and marketed under the E-Class model name in both sedan/saloon (1995–2002) and station wagon/estate (1996–2003) configurations. ...
; eccentric design used for passenger wiper on most late-model Mercedes-Benzes
File:scheibenwischer5.svg, Fig. 6: Pantograph system, used on some bus
A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...
es (e.g. Mercedes-Benz O305
The Mercedes-Benz O305 was a single deck, double deck and articulated bus manufactured by Mercedes-Benz in Mannheim, West Germany from 1968 until 1988. It was built as either a complete bus or a bus chassis and was the Mercedes-Benz adaptatio ...
), some school bus
A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...
es, some trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
es (e.g. Ikarus 415T
The Ikarus 415T is a type of trolleybus produced by the Ikarus bus manufacturer in Hungary in 1992 and between 1997 and 2002.
Subseries
These trolleybuses have 3 subseries, as shown below:
Ikarus 415T.1
The first trolleybus of this type was ...
and ZiU-9
ZiU-9, or ZIU-9 (Cyrillic: ЗиУ-9) is a Soviet (and later Russian) trolleybus. Other names for the ZiU-9 are ZiU-682 and HTI-682 (Cyrillic: ЗиУ-682 and ХТИ-682). The ZiU acronym stands for ''Zavod imeni Uritskogo'', which is a plant nam ...
), some train
In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...
s (e.g. IE 29000 Class
The 29000 Class is a type of four-car Diesel Multiple Unit operated by Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail). The units were built in Spain by CAF in two batches between 2002 and 2005.
Description
Each set comprises two driving end cars (DM1 and DM ...
) and the Kenworth T600
The Kenworth T600 is a model line of conventional-cab trucks that were produced by the American truck manufacturer Kenworth from 1984 to 2007. Distinguished by its aerodynamic sloped hood, the T600 was a Class 8 truck, typically sold in semitrac ...
as well as the rear wiper for the Honda CR-X
The Honda CR-X (styled in some markets as Honda CRX), originally launched as the Honda Ballade Sports CR-X in Japan, is a front-wheel-drive sport compact car manufactured by Honda from 1983 until 1991. The first generation CRX was marketed in s ...
Si and the Porsche 928 and for the driver's side of the Triumph TR7
The Triumph TR7 is a sports car manufactured in the United Kingdom from September 1974 to October 1981 by British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC), which changed its name to British Leyland (BL) in 1975. The car was launched in the United State ...
File:scheibenwischer8.svg, Fig. 7: MAN
A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...
, MAZ
Maz or MAZ may refer to:
* IATA code for Eugenio María de Hostos Airport, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico
* Minsk Automobile Plant, abbreviated in Belarusian as MAZ
* Myc-associated zinc finger protein, a protein encoded by the ''MAZ'' gene
* Maz, a vill ...
, ROMAN
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
, DAF XF
Daf ( fa, دف) also known as Dâyere and Riq is a Middle Eastern (mainly Iranian) frame drum musical instrument, used in popular and classical music in South and Central Asia. It is also used in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Iran, Uzbe ...
, Hino 700
The denomination 700 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Events
By place Byzantine Empire
* Avar and Slavic tribes conq ...
, Mitsubishi Fuso Super Great
The Mitsubishi Fuso Super Great ( Japanese:三菱ふそう・スーパーグレート) is a heavy-duty commercial vehicle produced by Mitsubishi Fuso, a former division of Mitsubishi Motors (later acquired by Daimler AG). Launched in 1996 to suc ...
, UD Quon
The UD Quon (kana:UD・クオン) is a heavy-duty commercial vehicle produced by the Japanese manufacturer UD Trucks, a former division of AB Volvo (now Isuzu).
Quon was originally developed by Nissan Diesel Corporation with the world first imp ...
, UD Quester
The UD Quester is a line of heavy-duty commercial vehicle produced by UD Trucks with Volvo Group. It is also related with the new generation of the UD Quon series made in Japan.
About
UD Trucks introduced Quester Project with Volvo at Bangkok o ...
, Škoda 14Tr
The Škoda 14Tr is a Czech trolleybus that was produced from 1981 to 1998. Prototypes were built in 1972 and 1974.
After the unsuccessful attempt to merge the Karosa ŠM 11 bus and the Škoda T 11 trolleybus and the cancelled Škoda 13Tr projec ...
, Toyota FJ Cruiser
The Toyota FJ Cruiser is a retro-styled mid-size SUV produced by Toyota since 2006. Introduced as a concept car at the January 2003 North American International Auto Show, the FJ Cruiser was approved for production after positive consumer respo ...
, Jaguar E-Type
The Jaguar E-Type, or the Jaguar XK-E for the North American market, is a British sports car that was manufactured by Jaguar Cars Ltd between 1961 and 1974. Its combination of beauty, high performance, and competitive pricing established the m ...
, MGB, MG Midget
The MG Midget is a small two-seater sports car produced by MG from 1961 to 1979. It revived a name that had been used on earlier models such as the MG M-type, MG D-type, MG J-type and MG T-type.
MG Midget MkI (1961–64)
The first version, ...
, Austin Healey Sprite
The Austin-Healey Sprite is a small open sports car produced in the United Kingdom from 1958 until 1971. The Sprite was announced to the press in Monte Carlo by the British Motor Corporation on 20 May 1958, two days after that year's Monaco ...
(a 1968 US-only ruling required a certain percentage of the windscreen to be wiped).
File:scheibenwischer7.svg, Fig. 8: Obsolete design, found on some older firetrucks and utility vehicles, some school buses
A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...
; same design on single windscreen for Jeep Wrangler
The Jeep Wrangler is a series of compact and mid-size four-wheel drive off-road SUVs manufactured by Jeep since 1986 and is currently in its fourth generation. The Wrangler JL, the most recent generation, was revealed in late 2017 and is produ ...
YJ
File:scheibenwischer6.svg, Fig. 9: US military
The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six Military branch, service branches: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States N ...
wheeled vehicles, jeepney
Jeepneys (), sometimes called jeeps (), are minibus-like public utility vehicles, serving as the most popular means of public transportation in the Philippines. They are known for their crowded seating and kitsch decorations, which have become ...
s, some school bus
A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bus ...
es and utility vehicles, Hummer H1
The Hummer H1 is a four-wheel-drive utility vehicle based on the M998 Humvee, which was developed by AM General when it was a subsidiary of American Motors Corporation (AMC). Originally designed strictly for military use, the off-road vehicle was ...
and HUMVEE
The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV; colloquial: Humvee) is a family of light, four-wheel drive, military trucks and utility vehicles produced by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles previously performed by the ori ...
File:scheibenwischer10.svg, Fig. 10: Like Fig. 1 but mirror-reversed, mainly seen on RHD cars, LHD Mercedes-Benz W140
The Mercedes-Benz W140 is a series of flagship vehicles manufactured by Mercedes-Benz from 1991 to 1998 in sedan/saloon and coupe body styles and two wheelbase lengths (SE and SEL). Mercedes-Benz unveiled the W140 S-Class at Geneva Motor Show in ...
Other wiper geometries
*Works similar to Fig. 8 but not a split screen windscreen and rest state is at the bottom of the windscreen facing outwards.
**
Alpine A310
The Alpine A310 is a sports car built by French manufacturer Alpine, from 1971 to 1984.
__TOC__
History
Dieppe-based Alpine, once an independent company specialising in faster Renaults, later a Renault subsidiary, established a fine competition ...
and
Renault Alpine GTA
**
Panhard Dyna Z
The Panhard Dyna Z is a lightweight Mid-size car, motor car produced by Panhard of France from 1954 to 1959. It was first presented to the press at a Paris restaurant named Les Ambassadeurs on 17 June 1953 and entered production the following year. ...
,
Panhard PL 17
The Panhard PL 17 is an automobile made by the French manufacturer Panhard from 1959 until 1965. Presented on 29 June 1959, as successor to the Panhard Dyna Z, the PL 17 was developed from the older car, but with an much more streamlined body tha ...
and
Panhard 24
*Works similar to Fig. 2 but one wiper has its resting position up and the other down.
**
Simca Aronde
The Simca Aronde is an automobile which was manufactured by the French automaker Simca from 1951 to 1964. It was Simca's first original design (earlier models were all to a greater or lesser extent based on Fiats), as well as the company's first ...
*Works similar to Fig. 9, but uses a single wiper.
**
AEC Routemaster
The AEC Routemaster is a Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engined double-decker bus that was designed by London Transport Executive, London Transport and built by the Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and Park Royal Vehicles. The ...
*Works similar to Fig. 6, but uses only one wiper.
**
V2A/V2B/V3A/V3B
Unusual wiper geometries
*Works as would Fig. 1, but uses a large, single pantograph wiper.
**
Audi A2
The Audi A2 (internally designated ''Typ'' 8Z) is a compact MPV-styled supermini car, with a five-door hatchback body style and four or five seats,ETKA official factory data produced by the German manufacturer Audi from November 1999 (for the 200 ...
**
Honda Today
The is a kei car produced by Japanese automaker Honda beginning in 1985. It was replaced by the Honda Life in 1998.
The Today represented Honda's reentry into kei car production. Honda had abandoned kei passenger cars in 1975, choosing only to ke ...
**
Renault Twingo
The Renault Twingo is a four-seater passenger city car manufactured and marketed by the French auto-maker Renault, introduced in 1992 and currently in its third generation.
The first generation Twingo (two door, front engine) debuted at the Pa ...
I
**
Renault Kwid
The Renault Kwid is a crossover city car produced by the French car manufacturer Renault, initially intended for the Indian market and launched in 2015. In 2017, an improved Brazilian version was introduced for Latin American markets. Its batte ...
/
City K-ZE
**
Dacia Spring
**
Citroën C1
The Citroën C1 is a city car marketed by Citroën from June 2005 to January 2022, originally developed as part of the B-Zero project by PSA Peugeot Citroën in a joint venture with Toyota, with two generations produced.
The C1 was developed a ...
**
Peugeot 107
The Peugeot 107 is a city car produced by French automaker Peugeot, launched in June 2005, and produced until 2014.
The 107 was developed by the B-Zero project of PSA Peugeot Citroën in a joint venture with Toyota; the Citroën C1 and Toyota A ...
**
Peugeot 108
The Peugeot 108 is a city car launched by French manufacturer Peugeot in March 2014 at the Geneva Motor Show. The 108 is related to the Citroën C1 and Toyota Aygo, and shares their floorpan, engines, transmission and electrics. Sales commenced in ...
**
Toyota Aygo
The Toyota Aygo is a city car ( A-segment) marketed by Toyota mainly in the European market between 2005 and 2021 across two generations. The Aygo was first displayed at the 2005 Geneva International Motor Show. It was built alongside the relat ...
**
Lamborghini Murciélago
The Lamborghini Murciélago is a sports car produced by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini between 2001 and 2010. Successor to the Diablo and flagship V12 of the automaker's lineup, the Murciélago was introduced as a coupé in 2001. ...
**
Lexus LFA
The is a two-seat sports car manufactured by Lexus, the luxury car division of Toyota. It is the second model in the Lexus F, F marque line of performance vehicles from Lexus, following the Lexus IS F, IS F, and also the first standalone Lexus ...
**
McLaren MP4-12C
The McLaren MP4-12C, later known simply as the McLaren 12C, is a sports car that was designed and manufactured by McLaren Automotive. It was the first ever production car wholly designed and built by McLaren, and their first production road ...
**
Mercedes W140
The Mercedes-Benz W140 is a series of flagship vehicles manufactured by Mercedes-Benz from 1991 to 1998 in sedan/saloon and coupe body styles and two wheelbase lengths (SE and SEL). Mercedes-Benz unveiled the W140 S-Class at Geneva Motor Show in ...
**
Mitsubishi i
The is a kei car from automaker Mitsubishi Motors, first released in January 2006, twenty eight months after its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show#2003, 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show. It is the first four-door automobile since the 1960s to employ ...
**
Datsun Go
The Datsun Go/Go+ is a city car and mini MPV with "5+2" seating capacity that was produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan under the Datsun brand (which was revived in 2013) between 2014 and 2022. Named after the "Dat-Go", Datsun's first car la ...
**
Toyota Etios
The Toyota Etios is a subcompact car consisting a line of four-door saloon/sedan and five-door hatchback produced by the Japanese automaker Toyota since 2010. The saloon version was launched in December 2010 and the hatchback version (with addi ...
/
Yaris/Vitz (XP130)
*Works as would Fig. 6, but the wipers are arranged upside down.
**
Renault PR100
The Renault PR100 was a French full-size step-entrance single-decker bus chassis built and marketed originally by Berliet from 1971, and sold as a Renault following the merging of Berliet into Renault Véhicules Industriels.
The PR100 was inte ...
and its articulated version
Renault PR180.2
**
British Rail Class 92
The British Rail Class 92 is a dual-voltage electric locomotive, which can run on 25 kV AC from overhead wires or 750 V DC from a third rail. It was designed specifically to operate services through the Channel Tunnel between Great Britain a ...
*Works as would Fig. 1 or Fig. 10, but the wipers are arranged upside down.
**
New Routemaster
The New Routemaster, originally referred to as the New Bus for London and colloquially as the Borismaster or Boris Bus, is a low-floor Diesel fuel, diesel double-decker bus operated in London, England. Designed by Heatherwick Studio and manufa ...
**
Alexander Dennis Enviro400
The Alexander Dennis Enviro400 is a twin-axle low-floor bus, low-floor double-decker bus that was built by the United Kingdom, British bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis between 2005 and 2018. It replaced the Alexander ALX400, Dennis Trident 2, ...
,
Alexander Dennis Enviro500
The Alexander Dennis Enviro500 (previously known as the TransBus Enviro500) is a three-axle double-decker bus built by Alexander Dennis (formerly by TransBus) in the United Kingdom. It was unveiled in 2002 and is one of the Enviro-series bus mod ...
Other automotive applications
Rear wipers
Some vehicles are fitted with wipers (with or without washers) on the back window as well. Rear-window wipers are typically found on
hatchback
A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...
s,
station wagons
A station wagon ( US, also wagon) or estate car ( UK, also estate), is an automotive body-style variant of a sedan/saloon with its roof extended rearward over a shared passenger/cargo volume with access at the back via a third or fifth door ( ...
/ estates,
sport utility vehicle
A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive.
There is no commonly agreed-upon definitio ...
s,
minivan
Minivan (sometimes called simply as van) is a North American car classification for vehicles designed to transport passengers in the rear seating row(s), with reconfigurable seats in two or three rows. The equivalent classification in Europe i ...
s, and other vehicles with more vertically-oriented rear windows that tend to accumulate dust. First offered in the 1940s, they achieved widespread popularity in the 1970s after their introduction on the Porsche 911 in 1966 and the Volvo 145 in 1969.
Headlight wipers
In the 1960s, as interest in auto safety grew, engineers began researching various headlamp cleaning systems. In late 1968, Chevrolet introduced high pressure fluid headlamp washers on a variety of their 1969 models. In 1970,
Saab Automobile
Saab Automobile AB () is a defunct automotive industry, car manufacturer that was founded in Sweden in 1945 when its parent company, Saab AB, began a project to design a small automobile. The first production model, the Saab 92, was launched in ...
introduced
headlight
A headlamp is a lamp (electrical component), lamp attached to the front of a vehicle to illuminate the road ahead. Headlamps are also often called headlights, but in the most precise usage (language), usage, ''headlamp'' is the term for the ...
wipers across their product range. These operated on a horizontal reciprocating mechanism, with a single motor. They were later superseded by a radial spindle action wiper mechanism, with individual motors on each headlamp. In 1972, headlamp cleaning systems became mandatory in Sweden.
Headlamp wipers have all but disappeared today with most modern designs relying solely on pressurized fluid spray to clean the headlights. This reduces manufacturing cost, minimizes aerodynamic drag, and complies with EU regulations limiting headlamp wiper use to glass-lensed units only (the majority of lenses today are made of plastic.)
Other features
Windscreen washer
Most windscreen wipers operate together with a windscreen washer; a
pump
A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they u ...
that supplies a mixture of water,
alcohol
Alcohol most commonly refers to:
* Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom
* Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks
Alcohol may also refer to:
Chemicals
* Ethanol, one of sev ...
, and
detergent
A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with cleansing properties when in dilute solutions. There are a large variety of detergents, a common family being the alkylbenzene sulfonates, which are soap-like compounds that are more ...
(a blend called
windscreen washer fluid) from a tank to the windscreen. The fluid is dispensed through small
nozzle
A nozzle is a device designed to control the direction or characteristics of a fluid flow (specially to increase velocity) as it exits (or enters) an enclosed chamber or pipe.
A nozzle is often a pipe or tube of varying cross sectional area, a ...
s mounted on the
hood
Hood may refer to:
Covering
Apparel
* Hood (headgear), type of head covering
** Article of academic dress
** Bondage hood, sex toy
* Hoodie, hooded sweatshirt
Anatomy
* Clitoral hood, a hood of skin surrounding the clitoris
* Hood, a flap of ...
. Conventional nozzles are usually used, but some designs use a
fluidic
Fluidics, or fluidic logic, is the use of a fluid to perform analog or digital operations similar to those performed with electronics.
The physical basis of fluidics is pneumatics and hydraulics, based on the theoretical foundation of fluid ...
oscillator
Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...
to disperse the fluid more effectively.
In warmer climates, water may also work, but it can freeze in colder climates, damaging the pump. Although automobile
antifreeze
An antifreeze is an additive which lowers the freezing point of a water-based liquid. An antifreeze mixture is used to achieve freezing-point depression for cold environments. Common antifreezes also increase the boiling point of the liquid, all ...
is chemically similar to windscreen wiper fluid, it should not be used because it can damage paint. The earliest documented idea for having a windscreen wiper unit hooked up to a windscreen washer fluid reservoir was in 1931, Richland Auto Parts Co, Mansfield, Ohio. Uruguayan racecar driver and mechanic Héctor Suppici Sedes developed a windscreen washer in the late 1930s.
Since 2012, nozzles are replaced on some cars (Tesla, Volvo XC60 2018-2021, Citroen C4 Cactus) by a system called AquaBlade, developed by the company Valeo. This system supplies the washing liquid directly from the spoiler element of the wiper blade. This system suppresses visual disturbances during driving and so reduces the reaction time of the driver in case of incident.
[ATZ, Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift, June 2015]
Hidden wipers
Some larger cars are equipped with hidden wipers (or depressed-park wipers). When wipers are switched off in standard non-hidden designs, a "parking" mechanism or circuit moves the wipers to the lower extreme of the wiped area near the bottom of the windscreen, but still in sight. For designs that hide the wipers, the windscreen extends below the rear edge of the bonnet. The wipers park themselves below the wiping range at the bottom of the windscreen, but out of sight. Late model vehicles that hide wiper blades under the windscreen need to be placed in a service position in order to lift the wiper blade from the windscreen using the wiper service position.
Rain-sensing wipers
Some vehicles are now available with automatic or driver-programmable windscreen wipers that detect the presence and amount of rain using a
rain sensor
A rain sensor or ''rain switch'' is a switching device activated
by rainfall. There are two main applications for rain sensors. The first is a water conservation device connected to an automatic irrigation system that causes the system to shut do ...
. The sensor automatically adjusts the speed and frequency of the blades according to the amount of rain detected. These controls usually have a manual override.
Rain-sensing windscreen wipers appeared on various models in the late 20th century, one of the first being the
Citroën SM
The Citroën SM is a high-performance coupé produced by the French manufacturer Citroën from 1970 to 1975. The SM placed third in the 1971 European Car of the Year contest, trailing its stablemate Citroën GS, and won the 1972 ''Motor Tre ...
. , rain-sensing wipers are optional or standard on all
Cadillac
The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...
s and most
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
s, and are available on many other mainstream manufacturers.
The rain-sensing wipers system currently employed by most car manufacturers today was originally invented and patented in 1978 by Australian, Raymond J. Noack, see U.S. Patents 4,355,271 and 5,796,106. The original system automatically operated the wipers, lights and windscreen washers.
Bladeless alternatives
A common alternative design used on ships, called a
clear view screen
A clear view screen or clearview screen is a glass disk mounted in a window that rotates to disperse rain, spray, and snow. A clear view screen is typically driven by an electric motor at the center of the disk, and is often heated to prevent con ...
, avoids the use of rubber wiper blades. A round portion of the windscreen has two layers, the outer one of which is spun at high speed to shed water.
High speed aircraft may use
bleed air
Bleed air is compressed air taken from the compressor stage of a gas turbine upstream of its fuel-burning sections. Automatic air supply and cabin pressure controller (ASCPCs) valves bleed air from high or low stage engine compressor sections. Low ...
which uses compressed air from the turbine engine to remove water, rather than mechanical wipers, to save weight and drag. Effectiveness of this method also depends on
water-repellent
Waterproofing is the process of making an object or structure waterproof or water-resistant so that it remains relatively unaffected by water or resisting the ingress of water under specified conditions. Such items may be used in wet environme ...
glass treatments similar to
Rain-X
Rain-X is a synthetic hydrophobic surface-applied product that causes water to bead up and run off surfaces, most commonly used on glass automobile surfaces. The brand has since been extended to a range of automotive and surface care products, inc ...
.
Legislation
Many jurisdictions have legal requirements that vehicles be equipped with windscreen wipers. Windscreen wipers may be a required safety item in auto
safety inspection
An inspection is, most generally, an organized examination or formal evaluation exercise. In engineering activities inspection involves the measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or activity. ...
s. Some US states have a "wipers on, lights on" rule for cars.
In popular culture
In the 1999 television commercial ''Synchronicity'' for the
Volkswagen Jetta
The Volkswagen Jetta () is a compact car/small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen since 1979. Positioned to fill a sedan niche above the firm's Golf hatchback, it has been marketed over seven generations, variously as the Atlant ...
automobile,
windscreen wipers were synchronized with events seen through the car windows, and with the song "Jung at Heart", which was commissioned for the advertising agency
Arnold Worldwide
Arnold Worldwide is an American advertising agency headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The agency is part of Havas, a global advertising holding company based in France. Some of Arnold's clients include Progressive Insurance, Cox Communicatio ...
and composed by Peter du Charme
under the name "Master Cylinder".
See also
*
Automobile ancillary power
]
Automobile accessory power can be transferred by several different means. However, it is always ultimately derived from the automobile's engine, internal combustion engine, battery, or other "prime mover" source of energy. The advent of high-po ...
*
Squeegee
A squeegee or squilgee is a tool with a flat, smooth rubber blade, used to remove or control the flow of liquid on a flat surface. It is used for cleaning and in printing.
The earliest written references to squeegees date from the mid-19th cent ...
Notes
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Windscreen Wiper
Vehicle parts
American inventions
Safety equipment
Products introduced in 1903
Rain
Car windows