Mary Anderson

Mary Anderson

Born: February 19, 1866, Greene County, Alabama

Died: June 27, 1953, Monteagle, Tennessee

To quote Monty Python, “and now for something completely different”.

Mary Elizabeth Anderson  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. Her patent didn’t get her far as she got no manufacturing firms to agree to make her invention since at that time automobiles were in low volume production and there was no demand for her invention. By the time that car production had boomed, and her invention became the norm, the car manufacturers reproduced her design without penalty as her patent had elapsed so she earned nothing from it.

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. Mary 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.

Little is known about her, except for the incident that inspired her famous creation. In the winter of 1903, she visited New York City. During her trip there was a snow and ice storm, and Mary had a hard time seeing the sights because of weather. Her driver drove with both windows open and would wipe down the snow and ice off the windshields with his hands, sometimes pulling over to do so. Anderson decided this method could be improved.

When she returned to Alabama, she drew up plans for a device that could be operated by hand from inside the car to clear the windshield. She hired a designer to draw up plans of her invention and hired a local manufacturer to make her a working model. In 1903 she applied for and was awarded a patent for her invention. Sadly, at that time, car making was a low volume activity, and by the time that production grew into the thousands and more and demand developed for her invention, her patent had expired.

During her lifetime, Anderson established herself as an entrepreneur. In addition to building and managing an apartment building in Birmingham, Alabama, she operated a cattle ranch and vineyard in Fresno, California. In 2011 Anderson was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. 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.”