Window-cleaning device
- Filed
- 18 June 1903
- Granted
- 10 November 1903
- Assignee
- Individual
Automotive equipment
Mary Anderson: inventions and patents
Known for Window-cleaning device, an early windshield wiperNationality Citizen of the United States, residing at Birmingham, Alabama, as stated in her 1903 patent19 February 1866 to 27 June 1953
Mary Anderson received US Patent 743,801 in 1903 for a window-cleaning device operated by a lever from inside a vehicle. The National Inventors Hall of Fame says she had the idea on a snowy day in New York City, after seeing streetcar drivers open their windows or step outside to clear the glass. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011.1,2
Patents
Inventions
- Windshield wiper, 1903. A lever inside the vehicle moved a spring-loaded arm with a rubber blade across the windshield, and a counterweight kept the blade against the glass.1
Recognition
- 2011 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame1
Sources
- National Inventors Hall of Fame, Mary Anderson (accessed 2026-10-27)
- Google Patents, US743801A Window-cleaning device (accessed 2026-10-27)