Syracuse, NY — This morning, a mini snow storm hit the Syracuse area. When I walked outside to my car at 7:45, the entire thing was covered in a 2-3 inches of powder.Freezing rain was coming down. Using the sleeve of my jacket, I brushed away some of the snow on the front door. The parking lot in my development was full of slosh. James Street wasn’t any better. When I finally cracked open the door,I tossed my bag inside and grabbed my red scraper/brush. It took me 10 minutes or so to clean before I hit the road.
On a good day, my drive to campus takes less than 10 minutes. Today it took me 30. My front wheel drive Mitsubishi didn’t fare well in the poorly plowed roads. Neither did a bunch of Saturn’s, Honda’s and pickup trucks involved in accidents or stranded on the side of the road. To add insult to injury, my car doesn’t have intermittent windshield wipers. The car was made in 2002. Intermittent wipers were invented in 1969 (not 1953, thank you @jfm2k1).
“Flash of Genius,” with Greg Kinnear, is a great film that “focuses on Robert Kearns and his legal battle against the Ford Motor Company when they developed an intermittent windshield wiper based on ideas the inventor had patented.”
As I sat in traffic, I had to keep switching my wipers from fast to slow to stop the smearing. Eventually I made it to campus. I was 15 minutes late to class, but I made it. I now have a new found appreciation for intermittent wipers and Mr. Kearns.
- east coast paper boy
Tags: car accident, driving in the snow, flash of genius, grad school, greg kinnear, intermittent windshield wipers, mirage, mitsubishi, new york, ny, robert kearns, s.i. newhouse school of public communications, snow storm, su, syracuse, syracuse university
Correction, the first intermittent wipers were introduced in 1969. Wikipedia rocks!
Alfonso
Thanks for your appreciation of my Dad and his invention. He was a very unique guy.
He invented his first design in Nov 1963. He applied for his Patent 3,351,836 in 1964 which issued in 1967. His was a “electronic” IWW system. Some vacuum and bi-metal operated systems were put on cars before his. Those systems were withdrawn in favor of his unique and more reliable design.
All the best
Dennis Kearns
http://Dennis-Kearns.com
The arrow that hits the bull’s eye is the result of 100 misses.