This would increase visibility for drivers when turning.
-- [ sctld ], Dec 09 2000

(?) joe. http://www.joe.com.uk
i have already invented the side window wiper also the side view mirror wiper [ian666, Dec 09 2000]

Or on cool mornings when the dew has covered your windows...Have that problem a lot in Florida...
-- StarChaser, Dec 09 2000


Have been thinking about this for years, it makes sense to have them and I can't see any drawbacks that it would incur, rains a lot here so there value would be great
-- Fletche, Dec 09 2000


Unlike front and back, the windows are part of a door that opens, and the windows themselves open - which makes installing machinery in them more complex; you've got to work around the stuff that's already in the door.

When driving forward, most of the water lands on the screen, much less on the sides; you don't really need them that much.

I, too, wish there were a quick, convenient solution for the morning fog, though. (Outgoing high-pressure air holes that just blow-dry the windows?)

The other thing I'd want would be a tiny wiper for the side mirrors.
-- jutta, Dec 09 2000


You could have them coming down from the top, attached to the car body, an electronic sensor linked top your electric window button then retracts the wipers when you open the window. I travel very slowly to work everyday in traffic, and use a lot of traffic islands where a clear view out of the side widows is essential, so this would help me. The blower idea would work, we have them on the inside, but maybe some small vents just above or below the outside of the windows that would blow hot air down/up onto them.
-- Fletche, Dec 10 2000


Petersealy, that doesn't always work...My windows get a six inch space across the center wiped, but the top and bottom are still fogged...

Jutta, I've seen wipers for the side mirrors, but on ridiculously expensive cars, with other things like heated gearshift knobs and a trunk mounting area for a butler...

Would be difficult to put more machinery in the already crowded doors, too...Maybe a heater grid, like the back windows sometimes have...
-- StarChaser, Dec 10 2000


I think most people use PeterSealy's technique of simply rolling the window down, and most people encounter StarChaser's problem. The gasket at the base of the window is simply made to keep water from draining into the inside of the door, not to wipe or scrape the glass. It seems to me the simplest way to implement a side window wiper is to build the existing gasket with the purpose of providing wiping as well as sealing functions. It should only add a dollar or two per car, if that. It might cost a bit more if it were designed to also scrape frost.
-- beauxeault, Dec 11 2000


The ice scraping gasket could be heated in some way, this would work in two ways really, slowly heating the whole window, but for a faster result you wind the window down, thus melting and scraping the ice of at the same time, only problems I can see are, the heater element would be metal and if the rubber wore away this could cause scratching to the window, also, how hot could you heat the rubber before it melted?
-- Fletche, Dec 11 2000


Actually, that shouldn't be too difficult. Could even be done as an addon...Possible problems is that it might wear or peel window tinting...
-- StarChaser, Dec 11 2000


The problem with lowering the window to remove snow or sheets of ice is that the snow or ice tends to fall into the car.
-- beauxeault, Dec 11 2000



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