Robert Kearns
| Robert Kearns | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Robert William Kearns March 10, 1927 Gary, Indiana |
| Died | February 9, 2005 (aged 77) Baltimore, Maryland |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Case Western Reserve University |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Known for | inventing the intermittent windshield wiper |
Robert William Kearns (March 10, 1927 – February 9, 2005) was an American inventor who invented the intermittent windshield wiper systems used on most automobiles from 1969 to the present. His first patent for the invention was filed on December 1, 1964.
Kearns won one of the best known patent infringement cases against Ford Motor Company (1978–1990) and a case against Chrysler Corporation (1982–1992). Having invented and patented the intermittent windshield wiper mechanism, which was useful in light rain or mist, he tried to interest the "Big Three" auto makers in licensing the technology. They all rejected his proposal, yet began to install intermittent wipers in their cars, beginning in 1969.
Kearns was a member of the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the U.S. CIA, during World War II.
He earned engineering degrees from the University of Detroit Mercy and Wayne State University and a doctorate from Case Western Reserve University.
Kearns claimed that the inspiration for his invention stems from an incident on his wedding night in 1953, when an errant champagne cork shot into his left eye, leaving him legally blind in that eye. Nearly a decade later in 1963, Kearns was driving his Ford Galaxie through a light rain, and the constant movement of the wiper blades irritated his already troubled vision. He modeled his mechanism on the human eye, which blinks every few seconds, rather than continuously. Kearns later downplayed his courtroom story of the champagne cork inspiration and played up a more conscious, deliberate inventive process.
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