Invention of the windshield wiper

[expat]

Interesting thread. I well remember electric motors and generators on 50's and 60's cars, big, heavy, slow, Iron things.

What happened to change that? It seems all of a sudden we got motors that became smaller and more reliable.

But speaking of oddities, in the early 60's UK Crysler/Hillman produced a rear engine car where the throttle was connected by a Vacuum/Pressure tube. But they soon changed it to a conventional cable.

 

[redbone3]

Originally Posted By: sonofbumperbolt

Progress not perfection.

My first car (a 1951 Ford 2-door) mated that lovely little squeegee to a vacuum motor to drive it.

When you were going down the road in a rainstorm and trying to pass some dawdler who was crawling along, the wipers (when you needed them most) would stop in mid-swipe and not operate again until you took your foot off the gas.

I know there are folks here who know what I'm talking about.

I remember taking them apart and soaking the leather in oil so the motor would work again. Some used neats foot oil, others just regular oil. Didn't matter when your foot was in the gas tank, no wipers (Unless you had a luxury car with a vacuum tank).

 

[mk378]

Originally Posted By: expat
Interesting thread. I well remember electric motors and generators on 50's and 60's cars, big, heavy, slow, Iron things.

What happened to change that? It seems all of a sudden we got motors that became smaller and more reliable.

Stronger permanent magnets made of newly formulated materials.

Also semiconductor technology enabled the alternator to be useful on a DC system. Alternators have all the high current handling parts on the stationary side, which allows a smaller, more reliable unit than a generator.

 

[splinter]

Vacuum operated wiper on my '31 Model A doesn't work too well at WOT.

Not certain why.

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Progress not perfection.

My first car (a 1951 Ford 2-door) mated that lovely little squeegee to a vacuum motor to drive it.

When you were going down the road in a rainstorm and trying to pass some dawdler who was crawling along, the wipers (when you needed them most) would stop in mid-swipe and not operate again until you took your foot off the gas.

I know there are folks here who know what I'm talking about.

My '39 Buick would do that...I used to have a '57 Olds 88 J2 Rocket, It had 2 Vacuum reservoirs & a Dual Action fuel pump & the wipers would still slow down but not stop.

The Vacuum wipers didn't bother me.... It was the Wiper Transmission Cables that wore me out, When a cable broke you spent a whole Saturday under the dash trying to fix it & figure out the cable routing with no internet (late 80's) to help.

Anyone ever seen this?....I bought 4 of these cable repair kit cards from a Parts store that was closing 20+ years ago, Helped a lot when repairing this old stuff.

 

[meep]

we had a '57 with vacuum wipers. living with them was interesting. They were operated by a rotary knob with a push-pull cable in the dash, like a heater cable, so the valve was variable, a really nice feature. The only time they ever struggled was under heavy acceleration or hill climbs. They'd also go lightning-fast during deceleration, and would sometimes sling the rubber blade off the arm if it was getting tired. as the vehicle aged, we employed a trick offered by a mechanic--- once every year or two we'd let the vacuum motor suck up a capful of brake fluid into its breather. That's all it needed.It also had cables and pulleys up in the dash, not long connecting rods, to join the wiper armatures with the motor output. we never had to adjust them, and they made less noise than current wipers do when those bushings start to wear.

The generator in that vehicle was rated for 27 amps. Engine had to be rolling at least 2000 rpms if not more to get there, if I remember -- it's been a long, long time. With headlamps on, a dashboard full of big metal incandescent bulbs (but no side marker lights back then - so it was literally 2 headlamps, two tail lamps, one license plate, and the dash) you'd eat up 10 amps for lights. Another 10 if you were running heat on high. Ignition probably needed 3 amps, and the field coil for the gennie itself probably needed 1-2. That's 25 amps. Anything else, such as a 6 amp wiper motor, would have been a problem.

The car actually had a harder time with newer batteries with larger capacities; it'd never catch up charging. Smaller batts held up better until we converted it to an alternator.

They did offer electric wipers in '57 as an option. The motor was much, much larger than today's. I want to say it was about 3.5" around and 6-7" in length. And this is for wipers that were probably using 11-12" blades. Compare that to a modern vehicle with 21" blades and a motor 2.5" x 4".

And yes, you were *required* to alter your driving considerably in the rain. Brake systems were single circuit, and drums all around. hit a puddle and you had to dry the brakes before they would work again. And since the systems weren't balanced front to rear, you were limited to the level the rear could support before losing traction. You lost half of your braking ability. You HAD to leave greater distances. You HAD to dry your brakes after EVERY puddle. You HAD to slow down. It was normal to adjust, there was no way around it.

 

[SteveSRT8]

My old Pontiac Tempest had no windshield wipers at all. We waxed it to help beading and carried a windshield wiper with arm in the car.

We simply stuck our arm out and swiped it back and forth.

Not very effective...

 

[Bamaro]

There is at least one Laurel and Hardy show (not the Anco commercial) that shows Stanly using the hand operated wiper on the car they are driving.