In the annals of automotive history, few inventors have left as profound and lasting an impact as Robert William Kearns. His groundbreaking invention of the intermittent windshield wiper mechanism in the early 1960s revolutionized vehicle safety and visibility in inclement weather. However, Kearns‘ journey from brilliant innovator to triumphant patent holder was an arduous, painful decades-long odyssey that extracted an immense personal toll. This is the story of Robert Kearns, his life, his game-changing creation, and his epic battle against the auto industry giants to defend his vision.
The Making of an Inventor
Born on March 10, 1927 in Gary, Indiana, Robert Kearns seemed destined for a life of inquiry and ingenuity from a young age. An exceptional student, Kearns interrupted his studies to serve in the U.S. Army intelligence during World War II, working for the agencies that would eventually become the CIA. After the war, Kearns resumed his academic pursuits with vigor, earning a bachelor‘s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Detroit, master‘s degrees from Wayne State University and Case Western Reserve University, and a PhD from Case Western Reserve, all while raising a burgeoning family with his wife Phyllis.
Kearns‘ first flash of inspiration for his most famous invention came not in a research lab or workshop, but in a moment of serendipitous misfortune. While celebrating his honeymoon in 1953, a champagne cork accidentally struck Kearns in his left eye, causing permanent vision impairment. This personal misfortune would soon prove the unlikely catalyst for an invention that would change the automotive world.
Eureka Moment in the Rain
Fast forward a decade to 1963. Kearns was driving his Ford Galaxie through a light Detroit rain shower. The constant, rhythmic sway of the wiper blades across the windshield irritated his damaged left eye, and the similarity to the blinking of an eyelid suddenly clicked into place. In his mind‘s eye, Kearns envisioned a wiper system that would act more like an eyelid, automatically adjusting its speed and interval based on the level of precipitation, rather than running at a constant, predetermined rate.
Kearns immediately set to work tinkering and experimenting in his basement laboratory, founding Kearns Electronics to refine his design. He spent countless hours disassembling the dashboards of junkyard cars to build and test his prototypes, perfecting his creation. Finally, on December 1, 1964, Kearns filed his first patent application for an "Intermittent Windshield Wiper System" with the U.S. Patent Office.
A Promising Pitch Rejected
Brimming with confidence in the huge commercial potential of his invention, Kearns approached the Big Three Detroit automakers – Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler – to pitch a licensing agreement for his intermittent wiper design. To his shock and dismay, all three companies flatly rejected his proposal.
In 1963, Kearns had even gone so far as to install his prototype intermittent wiper system on his own Ford Galaxie and drove it to Ford‘s headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan for a demonstration. The meeting seemed promising, with Ford engineers peppering Kearns with questions and even showing him their own intermittent wiper plans. Believing a manufacturing deal was imminent, Kearns readily shared the schematics and technical details of his patented design with the Ford team.
However, after a few more meetings over the next couple years, Ford abruptly cut off contact with Kearns in 1965, leading him to file additional patents to protect his invention. It soon became clear why the automakers were giving him the cold shoulder.
Highway Robbery in Plain Sight
In 1969, Ford shocked the automotive world by rolling out the first electronic intermittent windshield wipers on its Mercury line. Kearns initially assumed Ford was acting in good faith and a licensing agreement would be forthcoming. However, Kearns‘ faith was shattered in 1976 when his son Dennis obtained an intermittent wiper control module from a Mercedes-Benz vehicle. After taking apart the unit and analyzing the internal circuitry, the horrible truth became clear – it was a blatant copy of Kearns‘ own patented design.
Incensed, Kearns began feverishly pouring over patent filings from all the major automakers, including Ford, GM, and Chrysler. To his disbelief, he discovered they had all quietly integrated key elements of his proprietary wiper mechanism into their designs without his knowledge or permission, and certainly without any royalties. The unthinkable had happened – his intellectual property had been stolen right out from under him by some of the largest corporations in the world.
David vs the Auto Goliaths
Refusing to accept this outrageous theft of his invention, Kearns made the momentous decision in 1978 to file a patent infringement lawsuit against Ford Motor Company, demanding proper recognition and compensation for his creation. He would go on to file suit against Chrysler in 1982 as well. Thus began one of the longest, most expensive, and personally damaging legal battles in the history of the automotive industry.
For over 12 grueling years, Kearns found himself fighting an interminable war of attrition against the vast resources and legal firepower of the auto giants. Often acting as his own attorney after exhausting his savings on legal fees, Kearns faced an endless series of delays, motions, and counterclaims disputing the validity of his patents. Ford argued that Kearns‘ design was not sufficiently novel to justify patent protection, while Kearns maintained his particular arrangement of components was a unique, proprietary invention.
Throughout the lawsuit, Kearns rebuffed numerous settlement offers from the automakers, steadfastly determined to win outright recognition as the true inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper. In the end, his uncompromising persistence paid off. In 1990, after a contentious trial, a federal jury found Ford guilty of patent infringement, although the company was cleared of deliberate wrongdoing. Kearns was awarded $5.2 million in damages from Ford, and later that same year won an additional $18.7 million from Chrysler. The Chrysler verdict was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, which upheld the ruling in Kearns‘ favor in 1995.
The Toll of an Uncompromising Quest
However, Kearns‘ legal validation came at a staggering personal cost. His single-minded pursuit of the lawsuits against the automakers consumed his life for over a decade, leading to the collapse of his marriage and family relationships. Phyllis, his wife of 36 years and mother of their six children, divorced him in 1989. The stress of the prolonged court battles also took a devastating toll on Kearns‘ mental health, triggering bouts of severe depression, paranoia, and alcoholism that would plague him for the rest of his life.
Moreover, the millions Kearns theoretically won from Ford and Chrysler were drastically diminished by his exorbitant legal expenses. Kearns had never wanted the money itself, but rather the more intangible recognition as the original inventor of the intermittent wiper. Tragically, while Kearns had proven the validity of his patents, the courts did not grant him the power to halt the automakers‘ use of his designs in their vehicles.
An Invention That Changed the World
Lost in the tumultuous drama of Kearns‘ legal battle is the sheer magnitude of his invention‘s impact on the automotive industry and driver safety. Before Kearns‘ intermittent wiper mechanism, windshield wipers had only two settings – off, or a constant back-and-forth rhythm regardless of weather conditions. Kearns‘ design enabled wipers to automatically adjust their speed and frequency based on the rate of precipitation, an innovation that greatly improved visibility and driver comfort.
The importance of functional, responsive windshield wipers cannot be overstated. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly 50% of all vehicle crashes in the U.S. occur in adverse weather conditions such as rain, sleet, or snow. Studies have shown that properly maintained wiper blades can improve driver reaction time by 35%. Today, intermittent wipers are standard equipment on nearly every vehicle sold worldwide, with over 67 million cars and trucks sold globally in 2022 alone. Kearns‘ invention has undoubtedly played a critical role in preventing countless accidents and saving untold lives in the half-century since its introduction.
A Complicated Legacy
Robert Kearns passed away on February 9, 2005 at the age of 77 after battling cancer, but not before seeing his story of invention and betrayal immortalized in the 2008 film Flash of Genius. Today, Kearns is remembered as a visionary inventor and dogged fighter for the rights of independent innovators. His refusal to capitulate to the automakers‘ intimidation and insistence on the value of his creation has inspired countless other small inventors to defend their proprietary designs and ideas against even the largest corporate behemoths.
At the same time, Kearns‘ tragic story serves as a sober warning about the immense costs and perils of an individual taking on enormously powerful vested industry interests. Kearns‘ exhausting 15-year legal ordeal against billions of dollars in corporate capital and armies of lawyers illustrates the long odds and potentially dire personal consequences facing private inventors in even the most righteous cases of patent infringement.
Ultimately, Robert Kearns‘ true legacy transcends his epochal invention or contentious court cases. His universal windshield wiper design has improved the safety and driving experiences of billions worldwide. Meanwhile, the memory of his unrelenting battle to protect the integrity of his creation continues to embolden idealistic inventors in their fight for credit and control over their innovations. In the face of unimaginable adversity, Robert Kearns simply refused to back down, and his courageous determination resonates more powerfully than ever in our technology-driven age of ideas.
