Often, while driving, an object might get caught under the windshield wiper blades - a leaf, a piece of ice in winter, a hand-bill, etc. Other times, the blades themselves seem not to have set properly against the window and sometimes leave a streak when wiping.
At these times it's necessary to lift the blades away from the glass just for a second or two, to release the object, or perhaps to 'reset' the lie of the blade against the glass. Unfortunately, all too often the driver does not discover the need to do this until he/she is inside the vehicle driving, and of course it's usually raining.
It would be very handy to be able to lift the wipers away from the glass without having to leave the vehicle. To that end, I propose the wiper lifter accessory.
A small bar or lever could be incorporated into the wiper arm rotator mechanism that, when triggered from inside the car, would extend out and thus raise the wiper blade away from the windshield, about an inch or so.
The blades would stay lifted until the trigger was released. Repeatedly pressing the trigger rapidly would have the effect of 'snapping' the wipers off the glass. (This might be useful to knock away ice or snow which has become adhered to the blade.)
The trigger could be built into the wiper control on the steering column. In my current vehicle, the wiper control moves in three directions. Up triggers a 'mist' single wipe; down (multiple settings) turn on the intermittent and continuous wiper settings; and pulling the control "in" toward the driver triggers the windshield washer mechanism. Both the "up" and 'in" settings are temporary; the control returns to its standard position immediately.
I propose that the 'wiper lift' setting could be triggered by pushing 'out' on the wiper control arm (my high beam headlights work like this), but, like up and in, it returns to normal position upon release.-- waugsqueke, May 15 2003 We present the Wynn Kent Clearview Screen http://www.manex.co.za/wynn.htm [Micky Dread, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004] and mine.-- po, May 15 2003 Simple but very good. +-- saker, May 15 2003 //It would be very handy to be able to lift the wipers away from the glass without leaving the vehicle//open your window, reach out and grab it when it's in the "up" position, and give it a snap.-- lintkeeper2, May 15 2003 I nearly lost the tip of my finger in the wiper mechanism last winter, doing that during a snowstorm. I also got a load of snow in the window.
And it's useless for the passenger-side wiper.-- waugsqueke, May 15 2003 Every time I park my car under the metal lathe and come back to find my windshield piled high with curlicued ribbons of oily steel I wish Detroit had spent an extra 50 cents to incorporate this feature on my $50,000 car.
Actually, I don't disagree that [waugs] has targeted a real problem and proposed a sensible solution. I just don't think it's the best solution.
The best solution, unfortunately, is still going to be to pull the car over out of traffic, park, get out of the car, get wet if necessary, and manually clear the windshield. Mechanical technology, like many an overpaid housekeeper, just doesn't do windows well.-- jurist, May 15 2003 I'm short and have tried (as a passenger) to reach out the window and snap the blades BUT I just can't reach. I would love to have wiper lifters. Good idea.-- Mamamoose, May 15 2003 But jurist, you're missing the additional functionality of waugs' device:
1) While the car's at rest, you could lift the wipers and time their return to the windshield so that they smash a mosquito or some other offensive varmint that has come to rest on the windshield. 2) When the evil spy is chasing you in a big truck, and his evil henchman is clinging to the hood of the car, and you're trying to sling him off by swerving left and right, but he's got his fingers buried tenaciously in the gap where the wipers go, and he's just about to be able to swing around through the open window to bite your ear, you could activate the wiper lifter and poke him in the eye.-- beauxeault, May 15 2003 Maybe I should change the name of this. I just caught a glance of it in the Recent list, and temporarily forgetting it was mine, I thought perhaps it was a device for old or infirm people who have trouble getting up off the toilet seat.-- waugsqueke, May 15 2003 Yup, passes the "wish I'd thought of that" test.
//The best solution, unfortunately, is still going to be to ....get out of the car, get wet if necessary, and manually clear the windshield. //
Jurist, are you using the same definition of "best" as the rest of us?-- egbert, May 15 2003 This is the idea of the day, Waugs ! I just bought an E-class and it has a unique single blade going back and forth, which works really well, but can be more painful, b/c if there's something caught, it streaks ALL THE WAY across the windshield.
[beaux] evil henchman scenario is absolute justification for this thing. I suppose poking him in the eye AND having extra (alternative) reserve of washer fluid (with pepperspray) wouldn't be a bad idea.-- mahatma, May 15 2003 i'm sorry, forget parking a 50,000 dollar car under a metal lathe, how and or why does one park anything under a metal lathe? where is this lathe, the parking lot?-- urbanmatador, May 15 2003 I'm guessing the lathe is on a storage shelf in the car garage. That's the only scenario I could come up with.-- waugsqueke, May 15 2003 //it has a unique single blade going back and forth// Could have sworn I'd seen single blades on Citroëns?-- silverstormer, May 15 2003 How about having a small cloth, or sponge like attachement that while the blades are in the lifted position, runs up the length of each blade and cleans the grime off at the same time.-- Micky Dread, May 15 2003 That’s a winner [waugs]. My only request is that they can be set to remain in the ‘up’ position while parking outdoors during / impending snowfall.-- Shz, May 15 2003 Bris's compressed air idea would take care of loose snow. A blast of superheated steam would take care of compacted or frozen snow, too. Not sure what the thermal shock would do to the windscreen, though.
<Altogether now> Starry starry sight...-- egbert, May 16 2003 Simple, practical, useful, easy to implement...
It's alomost like it doesn't belong in the HalfBakery.-- scubadooper, May 16 2003 This one can't lose. Nice one, [waugsqueke]!-- XSarenkaX, May 20 2003 Good idea. It happens to me all the time. Especially tree burs.-- mannby, Jul 27 2003 I can't believe I didn't vote on this idea in the past. I remember reaaaaalllyy liking it. And it's a lesson in procrastination, because I had a similar idea because of the same problem and figured that I would wait until the next day to post it. When I came back from my day trip, I found your idea there with the full 2.5 buns. Of course, I like your idea better too, mine was a wiper wedge.-- sartep, Jul 27 2003 Missed this first time around. Like it.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Aug 12 2003 Put a wedge at the bottom of the windshield that lifts the wiper off in rest position. Even older cars could be retrofitted (...just $19.99 as seen on TV...).Also imagine the stupid faces of those bill distributors if they find the wipers on the parked lifted, so they can't put anything under.-- kbecker, Aug 14 2003 + for a wonderful idea-- seedy em, Aug 15 2003 agian just have a wedge that lifts the wipers when they are in the depressed park postion-- matthewq4b, Aug 15 2003 this summer i had the great misfortune to be in my car in the direct path of an f2 tornado. thankfully, i, my passengers and my vehicle were unharmed, but the 150 mph winds dragged my car across the road and, here's the relevant part, lifted my wiper blades in the exact manner herein sought. problem solved.-- urbanmatador, Sep 07 2003 Now, see here, I would have considered it to have been a great misfortune had me and my passengers all been standing outside of the car at the time of the encounter.-- bristolz, Sep 07 2003 How did you know it was an F2?-- waugsqueke, Sep 07 2003 They lived.-- bristolz, Sep 07 2003 It's based on the number of times one screams "FUCK!"-- FarmerJohn, Sep 07 2003 be sure it's strong enough to counter the wind when you're at high speeds...-- aeox, Apr 22 2004 random, halfbakery