Clasificación geográfica:
América > Estados Unidos
Movimientos socio-culturales
Edad Contemporánea
Grupos por ámbito de dedicación
Tecnólogas > Inventoras
Profesionales / Otros grupos > Empresarias / Directivas / Administradoras
Contexto de creación femenina
Mary Anderson is considered the inventor of the windscreen wiper. We can relate her and this invention to other everyday ones made by women in the late 19th and 20th centuries: the dishwasher (Josephine Cochrane), the hypodermic syringe (Letitia Geer), the coffee pot (Melitta Bentz), the disposable nappy (Marion Donovan), the lifeboat (Maria Beasley), the ink pen (Bette Nesmith Graham) or the bra (Mary Phelps Jacob).
Reseña
She invented the windscreen wiper, creating the first active safety system used in vehicles. In this way, vision and, therefore, driving was not affected. She patented her invention in 1903.
España > Tecnología y Digitalización > 1º ESO > Proceso de resolución de problemas. Materiales, productos y soluciones tecnológicas
España > Tecnología y Digitalización > 2º ESO > Proceso de resolución de problemas. Materiales, productos y soluciones tecnológicas
España > Tecnología y Digitalización > 3º ESO > Proceso de resolución de problemas. Materiales, productos y soluciones tecnológicas
Justificaciones
She is considered the inventor of the windscreen wiper. Although the invention of the windscreen wiper is attributed to three people, it was Anderson's system that was the most effective and the most widespread among manufacturers at the time.
The patent for this system, number 743,801, was approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on 10 November 1903.
This invention is the origin of what would become today's windscreen wipers, thus constituting the first active safety system used in vehicles.
Biografía
Mary Anderson was born in the Greene County, in Alabama, at the beginning of the Reconstruction era in 1866. In 1889, she moved with her widowed mother and her sister to the growing town of Birmingham, Alabama. She built the Fairmont Apartments on Highland Avenue shortly after moving in. In 1893, Mary Anderson moved west to Fresno, California, where, until 1898, she managed a cattle ranch and a vineyard.
On a visit to New York City, in the winter of 1902, she took the tram and noted that throughout the ride, the driver had to stop and get out continually to wipe dirt, water, and ice off the windshield; she also observed that the driver left the windows half open due to difficulties in keeping the windshield clean. This was a waste of time for the driver and travellers. A day after, she sketched a diagram of the elementary sweeping device. When she returned to Alabama, she hired a designer to draw a hand-operated device to keep the windshield clear and got a local company to produce a working model.
In 1903, she applied for and was granted a 17-year patent for the windshield wiper. The device she designed consisted of a lever, installed inside the vehicle, that controlled a plate of tough rubber on the outside of the windshield. The lever could be activated to make the spring-loaded metal arm move back and forth across the windshield, repeatedly. A counterweight was used to ensure contact between the blade and the window. Similar devices had been made before, but Anderson's was the first to be effective. Her system had a single arm supported at the top and centre of the glass.
In 1905, Mary Anderson tried to sell the rights of her invention to a Canadian company, but they did not accept her offer, arguing that they did not consider the invention to have sufficient commercial value to warrant going into its production. During her struggle to sell her invention, Henry Ford appeared on the scene, who came into contact with this invention. True to his innovative side, he interpreted its utility, which was initially tested on Ford T's with windshields.
After the patent expired in 1920, and the automobile manufacturing business grew exponentially, Anderson's windshield wiper design became standard equipment. In 1922, Cadillac became the first car manufacturer to adopt it as standard equipment.
Mary Anderson resided in Birmingham, where she continued to manage the Fairmont Apartments until her death at the age of 87.
Mary Anderson's windshield wiper invention is mentioned in Season 17, Episode 19: "Girls Just Want to Have Sums", of the Simpsons cartoon.
It is also briefly mentioned on the British TV show QI (Very Interesting); Season 10, Episode 16 - "Just the Job." https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Anderson_ (inventor) (16/01/2022)
Obras
-In 1903, she applied for and was granted a 17-year patent for the windscreen wiper.
She can be studied in Technology, in the block of contents about solving technological problems and technical communication, seen in 1st, 2nd and 3rd of ESO; in the block of contents about structures and mechanisms, seen in 2nd and 3rd of ESO; and, in the block of contents about control and robotics, seen in 4th of ESO. She can also be studied in English, when working the text of her patent. (Link to the document with the images and text of her patent: Mary Anderson. Window cleaning device. https://patents.google.com/patent/US743801)
Documentos
Instrucciones para realizar búsquedas
Women's Legacy te permite encontrar lo que estás buscando. Te explicamos a continuación como hacerlo.
Búsqueda en todos los campos de texto: Lo que escribas en este campo se buscará en todos los campos de texto, en todas las categorías. Puedes escribir una única palabra, o buscar una frase completa si la escribes entre comillas. También te permite encadenar distintas palabras utilizando AND o OR, por ejemplo puedes buscar "familia aristocrática" AND "poeta" y los resultados deberán contener las dos palabras o "familia aristocrática" OR "poeta" y entonces conque contengan una de ellas, ya saldrán en la lista de resultados.
Búsqueda por jerarquías: Encontrarás diferentes jerarquías que podrás desplegar pulsando sobre ellas, podrás seleccionar el nivel o niveles de la jerarquía que quieras, los elementos seleccionados se buscarán utilizando un criterio OR, es decir, con que cumplan uno de ellos ya saldrá en la lista de resultados.
Búsqueda por textos: Encontrarás diferentes campos de texto que aplican a las distintas categorías, las reglas de uso son las mismas que se utilizan en el punto 1, pero en este caso estás búscando en un campo en concreto, no en todos a la vez, es decir, por ejemplo, puedes buscar "familia aristócrata rusa", solamente en el campo Biografía de un personaje.
Unión de los filtros de selección: También en la parte superior encontrarás un selector en el que establecerás el criterio de ordenación de la salida.
