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Did You Know? The Windscreen Wiper Was Invented by a Geordie

2 November 2016

By Joseph

If ever during conversation the topic of windscreen wipers crops up, then it’s likely someone will come out with “the windscreen wiper was invented by a woman, you know”, which of course seems unusual for the early 20th century, when most inventors were male. This is quite a popular fact, as far as facts go. Whilst it is true that Mary Anderson – an American – is responsible for inventing the first operational windscreen wiper, it is a lesser known fact that the windscreen wiper was a Geordie invention, too.

In 1908, five years after Mary Anderson devised her windscreen wiper in America, Gladstone Adams of Whitley Bay was driving down to Crystal Palace Park in London to watch the Toon face off against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup final – a game Newcastle would lose 3-1. Gladstone’s journey, however, was not entirely fruitless. On his way back from the game, he was delayed by snow falling onto the windscreen, forcing him to frequently stop the car and clear the snow. This inconvenience inspired Gladstone Adams to develop and patent a design of the windscreen wiper in 1911.

Although his design never made it to the manufacturing stage, his design no doubt inspired a host of other inventors to kick-start the windscreen wiper in Britain – of course, cars were yet to be popularised at this point. His original prototype is available to see at the Discovery Museum in Newcastle.

There you go. Along with Greggs, Newcastle Brown Ale and Ant and Dec, Tyneside also helped to give the world the humble windscreen wiper.

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