What Did Cars Do Before Windshield Wipers?

Windshield wiper, 1953

The earliest cars were a far cry from the high-tech machines we drive today. Even outside of modern amenities such as backup cameras and Bluetooth connectivity, very basic features that we now take for granted didn’t exist — including a way to clear water off the windshield. In rain or snow, early drivers had to get hands-on just to see the road ahead.

In fact, the earliest cars didn’t even have windshields, let alone wipers, and people parked their cars in carriage houses or barns when not in use. German engineer Carl Benz patented the first gas-powered vehicle in 1886, generally thought of as the world’s first automobile, and as the motor vehicle evolved, so did the need for better design and functionality. In 1908, Henry Ford’s introduction of the Model T marked a major shift, making cars more affordable and accessible for everyday use. Yet even the Tin Lizzie, as it was nicknamed, was not a fully enclosed vehicle.

The Model T was easy to operate and built to handle rough roads, and with a top speed of 40 miles per hour, it made travel far more efficient. But it still had its share of problems. In the winter, radiators, which were filled with water, could easily freeze and crack. In the spring, muddy roads in unpaved regions meant cars could easily get stuck. And no matter the season, there was nothing to shield drivers from wind, rain, dust, or debris. Before windshields were the norm, they were an optional add-on for the Model T and other cars, meaning many early motorists often faced the open road — quite literally — without protection.

Windshields didn’t become standard on most vehicles until around 1915, and while they handily did their job shielding drivers from hazards, they became somewhat of a hazard themselves. Visibility through the simple, straight pane of glass was limited in inclement weather. When rain, snow, or mud obscured a driver’s view, there was no built-in solution to clear it away. The only option? Pull over, get out, and manually wipe the glass. It wasn’t exactly convenient, but there weren’t a lot of options; one other trick drivers used was to rub a carrot, sliced onion, or even a pinch of tobacco across the glass to create a thin film believed to help repel water. Ultimately, though, stopping the car and getting out to wipe the windshield was the most reliable, if cumbersome, way to see.

Luckily, some enterprising minds were working on a better solution. In 1902, Alabama entrepreneur Mary Anderson was visiting New York City when she had an idea while riding the trolley. Trolley cars had windows and windshields long before autos, and on this particular ride she noticed her driver struggling to see through the sleet-slicked windshield. The driver tried a few things, including opening both windshield panes to peer between them, and getting out every few minutes to clear the windows. Inspired to solve this nuisance, Anderson sketched out an idea for a window-cleaning device: a hand-operated lever inside the vehicle that controlled a wiper on the outside.

Anderson received a patent for her invention in 1903, but cars weren’t yet very popular — there were just under 33,000 registered vehicles in the U.S. at the time — and they didn’t all have windshields, so interest was slim. The patent expired without success in 1920, right around the time the automobile started to become a fixture of American life: Between 1919 and 1929, the number of passenger cars on U.S. roads skyrocketed from 6.5 million to 23 million.

Other similar patents followed, and by about 1916, some of the cars that had adopted windshields also came equipped with wipers, but they were often optional, and were not yet widely used. That same year, however, Buffalo, New York, engineer John Jepson patented a simple windshield cleaner. It was similar in essence but more complex than Anderson's early designs. His consisted of spring-loaded arms that applied consistent pressure on both the top and bottom of the common horizontally split sections of windshields at the time.

The idea caught the attention of John Oishei, a local theater manager who vowed to improve driving visibility after hitting a bicyclist with his car while driving in the rain. He partnered with Jepson to market the device, branding it as the Rain-Rubber with the slogan, “Would YOU Drive Blindfolded?”

The Rain-Rubber quickly gained traction, and by the mid-1920s, windshield wipers had become standard on cars from several manufacturers, including Cadillac and Ford. While wiper-related patents have continued to flood in by the hundreds each decade ever since, at their core, windshield wipers remain true to the simple concept Anderson thought up on that New York City trolley back in 1902 — a blade wiping away the rain.