Daily I get into my car, turn on the engine, and set off. If it is a warm day, I select to turn on the air conditioning or retract my convertible roof. On chilly days I set the heat system, to make sure I am comfy whilst driving. When it is raining, snowing or foggy I use my Wiper blades to clear the windscreen.

I never as a rule think of how these things evolved for my comfort, I just accept that vehicles have these features to improve my driving experience. However, as winter nears, it caused me to consider the Windscreen wipers and what a wonderful invention they are.

I have searched for information on this area and found that in 1903, when the first windscreens were added to cars, an inventor by the name of J H Apjohn came up with the notion of Windscreen wipers in the form of brushes which swept up and down the windshield to clear it. I imagine that the brushes probably caused quite a few scratches to the windscreen, so in 1905, when the American inventor, Mary Anderson, patented the swinging arm style of windshield wiper, with a rubber blade, this must have been keenly accepted by the automotive industry.

These early Windscreen wipers required the user to move a lever in the vehicle to operate the wipers, so the next major move was towards electric Windscreen wipers. A dentist from Hawaii, Dr Ormand Wall, invented the electric wipers in 1917, some 12 years after Mary Anderson’s first Wiper Blades were added to vehicles.

All Windscreen wipers had rubber blades until quite recently. The problems met with these were that due to temperature changes, summer heat, winter frosts, the rubber rotted and the Wiper blades needed replacing in a reasonably quick time period.

Silicone wiper blades are now also obtainable and these are less at risk from temperature changes than their rubber forerunners. Although the Silicone wiper blades are slightly more dear than the rubber Windscreen wipers, they frequently come with a guarantee to not rot or split, as happens with the rubber wipers, and also claim to be able to follow the contours of the windshield better, giving a more clean sweep.

We request a lot from these wonderful little inventions. I expect to press or pull or turn a stick on my steering wheel and get an instant result from the Wiper blades. They are expected to clean dust and bugs from my windshield in the summer. When the roads are muddy, I require the grime to be cleared from my windshield immediately, to give me high quality vision. If it is icy early in the morning, I switch on the heater and eagerly turn the Windscreen wipers on to clear the windscreen more rapidly. In winter the heavy snow is shown no mercy.

Because of the above I give thanks to the ingenious Mary Anderson, the inventor of Windscreen wipers.I also marvel at the type of mind that could come up with such an invention out of just being faced with a problem. It’s a lesson to us all when we’re facing adversity.