Mary Anderson: How she invented windshield wipers despite the odds.

Mary Anderson was ahead of her time. In the year In the early 1900s, when most men were bakers and few women worked outside the home, the single, mid-30s Anderson envisioned himself as a businessman. She dreamed of being an entrepreneur. and problem solving as a creative.

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In 1902, she saw an economic opportunity in the frosted windshield. She was riding a trolley car during a tour of New York City. The problem? The driver could not see the road due to rain and snow. Visibility was poor. It was so weak that the driver had to keep sticking his head out the window to see ahead. Sometimes he stopped to get out and could brush the snow off the windshield with his hand.

Anderson (1866-1953) thought there must be a better way. Like any inventor or entrepreneur, she started thinking big. And outside the box. The wheels in her mind began to turn.

“His ideas sparked an innovation that benefited every driver in the world,” says a published history of Anderson. Self-zone (AZO), an auto parts retailer.

A better way, like Mary Anderson

When Anderson returned to Birmingham, Ala., that summer, she came up with a solution. She sketched a windshield wiper that the driver could operate from inside the vehicle. She wrote a description of how it works. And when she filed a patent on June 18, 1903, she went all in.

In the year “Her idea was in the vehicle controlling the dragon within the vehicle,” according to the National Inventories Hall of Fame, which inducted Anderson in 2011, six decades after her death in 1953 at age 87.

“A lever, weighted to keep the wiper in contact with the window, moves the blade across the windshield to remove rain or snow.” In the year On November 10, 1903, the US Patent Office issued Anderson Patent No. 743,801 for a “Window Cleaning Apparatus.”

But Anderson’s victory was short-lived. Her time is gone. Cars were still in the future and not widely available. Five years later, in 1908, Henry Ford’s Model T hit the nation’s roads. And it wasn’t until 1922 that Cadillac began selling cars with windshield wipers as a standard feature.

Don’t let rejection stop you

And when Anderson tried to sell her invention to manufacturing companies and make a living off of her idea, she was repeatedly rejected. “The story of the lost opportunity is as big as the invention,” said Sarah Scott Wingo, Anderson’s great-granddaughter, who heard stories about the inventor and entrepreneur from her father.

Wingo recalls one of the June 20, 1905 rejection letters from Dinning Eckenstein in Canada. The text read: “We regret to announce that it has such a commercial value. The patent expired in 1920.

While not much is known about Anderson, there is much to learn from her inventive mind and entrepreneurial journey. Despite seemingly impossible odds, her efforts to monetize her idea fuel her career and plan for success.

“Andersen was not really recognized for her inventions during her lifetime,” the National Inventors Hall of Fame said. “Through no fault of her own, her invention was simply ahead of its time, and other companies and entrepreneurs were able to profit from her original ideas.”

Wingo’s concept of her great aunt’s windshield wiper idea didn’t get off the ground because she was a woman, the reality is that many men who run many businesses can’t see past that.

“There wasn’t a time when women were out in the world doing things like that,” Wingo said. “If she had written her name Marian[male maiden name]Anderson on her patent application, it might have been a different story.”

Still, Anderson’s keys to success are timeless. She was creative. But so does an entrepreneur. She made money in real estate building and managing apartments in Birmingham and ran a ranch and vineyard in Fresno, Calif.

Turn thought into action

Coming up with an idea and following through on it are two different things. Often, ideas die due to lack of motivation.

But Anderson turned his thoughts into action, the first child to become an entrepreneur instead of a dreamer.

“She wasn’t just curious about the concept or just fantasizing about it,” AutoZone said. “She was so serious about it that she applied for a patent.”

Andersen’s methodological progression from idea to designer to patent application speaks volumes for her belief in herself and her creativity. “It takes tenacity to pursue an idea,” says Rini Paiva, executive vice president of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. “The next step is unpredictable. She didn’t just have an idea, she did something.”

Paiva Andersen says he has key qualities that increase his chances of success in work and life.

“She was tenacious, forward-thinking, and eager to pursue an idea,” Paiva says. Anderson, Paiva added, was a problem solver who lived by the mantra: I know how to do better. “She was willing to think about all the different ways to solve the problem,” Paiva said.

Pay attention to detail

History books do not contain detailed descriptions of Anderson’s life or business. But a lot can be learned about her from the detailed design of her window cleaning device submitted in her patent application.

The focus in design provides a window into her thoughts, ambitions and determination.

“It shows that she put a lot of thought into the engineering, and you know she went through a lot of iterations,” Paiva said. “It looks like a windshield wiper. You can see all the little details she described in the patent. How the arm swings. It’s spring-loaded.”

Follow your dreams like Anderson

“Why bother,” Anderson might say, crushing her creator’s dreams because she knows her chances of success are slim just because she’s a woman. But striving to achieve her goals became a major obstacle to being a woman in the male-dominated business world of the early 20th century.

“Put it in the context of the times,” Paiva said. “A single woman takes ownership and gets it. When you put it in the big picture, it’s amazing. She has to be a very driven and goal-oriented person.”

The driver identified her, says Paiva. In her life, she went to the other part of the country to lead a cattle ranch. She built and managed an apartment building in Birmingham.

“She dominated the last game,” Paiva said. Her thinking was about business and finding ways to earn money, be successful and support herself. “What if I build this apartment building? What if I get a patent for this broom? To me, she’s in the world today. From what we know of her, she’s a great example of what should be. Success.”

Anderson’s focus on tomorrow is another lesson that all budding entrepreneurs should take note of. “She’s a good reminder for all of us to think about the possibilities and how things will develop in the future,” Paiva said.

Mary Anderson Keys

• Inventor and patent holder for windshield wipers.
• She Overcame: The Obstacles Faced by Lifetime Women Innovators and Entrepreneurs in a Male-Dominated World.
• The lesson: “Think about the possibilities and how things might develop in the future,” says Rini Paiva, executive vice president of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

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