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Coincidentally, I just watched a good movie called "Flash of Genius" on Netflix yesterday. It's a drama based on the true story of Robert Kearns, the inventor o

by jabo 10y ago

Coincidentally, I just watched a good movie called "Flash of Genius" on Netflix yesterday. It's a drama based on the true story of Robert Kearns, the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper. Highly recommend it if you liked this article. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054588/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054588/

kqr2 10y ago
I wish adaptive adaptive windshield wiping would become a standard feature, i.e. the frequency automatically adjusts to the amount of rain coming down.
- jlgaddis 10y ago
  My truck has this but I don't know what it's called. I permanently leave the windshield wipers on the first setting. If it isn't raining, they don't operate. As the intensity of the rain vhanges, the wipers automatically adapt.
- iamatworknow 10y ago
  I think it will soon. I've had my car (a 2017 Toyota Corolla, base model) for about 3 months now and I'm still amazed by some of the features they're now including standard (automatic high beams, lane departure assist, adaptive cruise control). Granted these features don't work quite as well as those I've seen in more expensive cars, but just having them as standard features for a new car under $18k USD is pretty impressive.
- ajford 10y ago
  Adaptive windshield wiping? Shit, I'm just hoping automatic headlights become standard. I had two Camaros, one from the late 90s and one from 2002. They both had auto lights. My 2008 Prius? Nope. My sister has a 2007 Honda Odyssey, no auto lights either. How much difficulty is it to add a damn photosensor and a switch?
  - Neliquat 10y ago
    Its honestly annoying af. I had them on a previous car and had issues. The newer systems are better, but how hard is it to flick a switch? Are we too lazy to turn on the lights now? Maybe driving is too much trouble and fuss for some people.
  - cr0sh 10y ago
    The next "latest and greatest" thing out now (or soon) is a system by some of the luxury car makers (I think Audi and/or BMW?): "smart lighting" headlight systems. Basically, instead of just a headlight bulb with hi and low beams, they use a single bulb (probably LED) and a TI micro-mirror array, controlled by a computer-vision (and other sensors) system to control the headlights to do some pretty amazing stuff: * adaptive high-beams - lighting only the areas that need it * auto-highlighting road-side obstacles (like animals or pedestrians or cars) * placing "signage" at the feet of pedestrians to warn them * highlighting of signs (and only the signs) with high-beams Imagine the car steering the beams where needed, when needed - brightening things for your attention, dimming areas that are unwanted (oncoming traffic, for instance - to keep from blinding the other drivers), placing other information on the roadway as needed (for you and/or pedestrians), etc. I think right now it is still a "beta idea" - still being developed. It seems plausible, but it might be something that proves too complex to be practical. The other downside of it (maybe the greatest downside) is that replacing bulbs (not too mention the module!) is probably going to ultra-super expensive. Of course, most of these luxury cars already have a "service position" of "remove the entire front portion of the car" (or, if doing something interior, "remove the entire dashboard") - which already puts you into the several-hundred dollar repair cost range before anything is done...
    - PhantomGremlin 10y ago
      several-hundred dollar repair cost range before anything is done That's the key. Whenever I read about all these new features I just think it's one more thing that will inevitably break. And then when it breaks, it's more expensive to fix. E.g. the alternator on my BMW X5 went out. Fine, shit happens. But when I had it replaced I found out its water cooled. Which simply makes the repair that much more expensive. It seems that all luxury cars are like that. They're engineered more for the repair business than for anything else.
- Arizhel 10y ago
  Lots of cars come with this now, even near-economy-level ones. It's called "rain-sensing wipers".
WalterBright 10y ago
I never understood what is genius about intermittent wipers.
- yellowapple 10y ago
  At the time, windshield wipers were controlled by a manifold vacuum, and the speed varied based on how much throttle you were applying. The problem is that this happened in reverse of ideal; at a standstill your wipers would be wiping furiously, and would slow down to near-uselessness as you gave the engine more gas. The intermittent wiper design not only solved that problem, but paved the way for far greater flexibility when it comes to how fast or slow the wipers should wipe. It also did so with a relatively simple circuit (just charge a capacitor to a certain voltage, then use it to power the motor; adjust the charge rate to adjust the wiper rate). Pretty neat in my book.
  - cr0sh 10y ago
    > just charge a capacitor to a certain voltage, then use it to power the motor; adjust the charge rate to adjust the wiper rate Actually, the circuit is a variable oscillator controlled by the adjustment of a potentiometer that controls the charging of the capacitor; that RC constant controls the oscillator (similar to a multivibrator), which is configured to dump the charge to activate a transistor that activate the relay which connects the wiper motor to the battery (there's also a switch contact involved that opens when the motor has completed one revolution). A simple circuit details this: http://www.eleccircuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/index.gif http://www.eleccircuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/index.... Kearns' patent essentially shows the same kind of system: https://www.google.com/patents/US3351836 https://www.google.com/patents/US3351836 I find it interesting that he did design it this way, as production transistors at the time were still fairly "new" on the market, and would have been an expensive component. There are probably ways to design it back then that wouldn't need a transistor - perhaps based on a bi-metallic switch plus resistance for adjusting the time for a heater to heat up (basically, re-using an automobile blinker in some fashion?) - though maybe this was the direction Ford was trying to take, and Kearns was able to use the "new-fangled part" to his advantage? Oh - in case it hasn't been posted yet - the New Yorker article the movie was based on: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/01/11/the-flash-of-genius http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/01/11/the-flash-of-ge...
Kearns 10y ago
Kearns early patents were moisture variable and measured friction between blade and glass. Decreasing delay with increased rain. Automotive's didn't steal that idea?

by jabo 10y ago

kqr2 10y ago

I wish adaptive adaptive windshield wiping would become a standard feature, i.e. the frequency automatically adjusts to the amount of rain coming down.

jlgaddis 10y ago
My truck has this but I don't know what it's called. I permanently leave the windshield wipers on the first setting. If it isn't raining, they don't operate. As the intensity of the rain vhanges, the wipers automatically adapt.
iamatworknow 10y ago
I think it will soon. I've had my car (a 2017 Toyota Corolla, base model) for about 3 months now and I'm still amazed by some of the features they're now including standard (automatic high beams, lane departure assist, adaptive cruise control). Granted these features don't work quite as well as those I've seen in more expensive cars, but just having them as standard features for a new car under $18k USD is pretty impressive.
ajford 10y ago
Adaptive windshield wiping? Shit, I'm just hoping automatic headlights become standard. I had two Camaros, one from the late 90s and one from 2002. They both had auto lights. My 2008 Prius? Nope. My sister has a 2007 Honda Odyssey, no auto lights either. How much difficulty is it to add a damn photosensor and a switch?
- Neliquat 10y ago
  Its honestly annoying af. I had them on a previous car and had issues. The newer systems are better, but how hard is it to flick a switch? Are we too lazy to turn on the lights now? Maybe driving is too much trouble and fuss for some people.
- cr0sh 10y ago
  The next "latest and greatest" thing out now (or soon) is a system by some of the luxury car makers (I think Audi and/or BMW?): "smart lighting" headlight systems. Basically, instead of just a headlight bulb with hi and low beams, they use a single bulb (probably LED) and a TI micro-mirror array, controlled by a computer-vision (and other sensors) system to control the headlights to do some pretty amazing stuff: * adaptive high-beams - lighting only the areas that need it * auto-highlighting road-side obstacles (like animals or pedestrians or cars) * placing "signage" at the feet of pedestrians to warn them * highlighting of signs (and only the signs) with high-beams Imagine the car steering the beams where needed, when needed - brightening things for your attention, dimming areas that are unwanted (oncoming traffic, for instance - to keep from blinding the other drivers), placing other information on the roadway as needed (for you and/or pedestrians), etc. I think right now it is still a "beta idea" - still being developed. It seems plausible, but it might be something that proves too complex to be practical. The other downside of it (maybe the greatest downside) is that replacing bulbs (not too mention the module!) is probably going to ultra-super expensive. Of course, most of these luxury cars already have a "service position" of "remove the entire front portion of the car" (or, if doing something interior, "remove the entire dashboard") - which already puts you into the several-hundred dollar repair cost range before anything is done...
  - PhantomGremlin 10y ago
    several-hundred dollar repair cost range before anything is done That's the key. Whenever I read about all these new features I just think it's one more thing that will inevitably break. And then when it breaks, it's more expensive to fix. E.g. the alternator on my BMW X5 went out. Fine, shit happens. But when I had it replaced I found out its water cooled. Which simply makes the repair that much more expensive. It seems that all luxury cars are like that. They're engineered more for the repair business than for anything else.
Arizhel 10y ago
Lots of cars come with this now, even near-economy-level ones. It's called "rain-sensing wipers".

WalterBright 10y ago

I never understood what is genius about intermittent wipers.

yellowapple 10y ago
At the time, windshield wipers were controlled by a manifold vacuum, and the speed varied based on how much throttle you were applying. The problem is that this happened in reverse of ideal; at a standstill your wipers would be wiping furiously, and would slow down to near-uselessness as you gave the engine more gas. The intermittent wiper design not only solved that problem, but paved the way for far greater flexibility when it comes to how fast or slow the wipers should wipe. It also did so with a relatively simple circuit (just charge a capacitor to a certain voltage, then use it to power the motor; adjust the charge rate to adjust the wiper rate). Pretty neat in my book.
- cr0sh 10y ago
  > just charge a capacitor to a certain voltage, then use it to power the motor; adjust the charge rate to adjust the wiper rate Actually, the circuit is a variable oscillator controlled by the adjustment of a potentiometer that controls the charging of the capacitor; that RC constant controls the oscillator (similar to a multivibrator), which is configured to dump the charge to activate a transistor that activate the relay which connects the wiper motor to the battery (there's also a switch contact involved that opens when the motor has completed one revolution). A simple circuit details this: http://www.eleccircuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/index.gif http://www.eleccircuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/index.... Kearns' patent essentially shows the same kind of system: https://www.google.com/patents/US3351836 https://www.google.com/patents/US3351836 I find it interesting that he did design it this way, as production transistors at the time were still fairly "new" on the market, and would have been an expensive component. There are probably ways to design it back then that wouldn't need a transistor - perhaps based on a bi-metallic switch plus resistance for adjusting the time for a heater to heat up (basically, re-using an automobile blinker in some fashion?) - though maybe this was the direction Ford was trying to take, and Kearns was able to use the "new-fangled part" to his advantage? Oh - in case it hasn't been posted yet - the New Yorker article the movie was based on: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/01/11/the-flash-of-genius http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/01/11/the-flash-of-ge...

Kearns 10y ago

Kearns early patents were moisture variable and measured friction between blade and glass. Decreasing delay with increased rain. Automotive's didn't steal that idea?