I've noticed a problem with current windshield wipers: they force the wiper fluid (or mud or whatever it is you're wiping) to the side, or over the top, where the fluid leaves streaks and/or stains all along the vehicle, and also spraying the unfortunate driver behind you with his sun-roof open or his top down, not only staining his car but his clothes as well.
I would like to see a device that fits around the windshield like a picture frame and channels the run-off through tubes down to the ground. The tubes will be made of rubber hose or maybe plastic pipes and dangle a few inches above the ground, under the front end of the car.
I think this could be done with vacuum-suction holes spaced along the run-off frame. The vacuum would be activated automatically when the wipers come on.
If the vacuum-suction part is too complex or is just not practical, please suggest a better idea. I would really like to know how to make something like this, but I just don't know enough about the properties of liquids to make this happen.... yet.-- 21 Quest, Jun 19 2006 winsheild blower http://www.halfbake...Run-off_20Collectorby danitpe. [BJS, Jun 19 2006] /don't know enough about the properties of liquids to make this happen.... yet./
That sounds like you're hatching an evil plot for some reason.
Good idea. Would work sans vacuum, I think.-- Texticle, Jun 19 2006 Maybe this could be combined with the “windshield blower” idea by [danitpe].-- BJS, Jun 19 2006 That's what I was thinking.-- BJS, Jun 19 2006 _An_ objective is to reduce drag coefficient. Consider SUVs.-- Texticle, Jun 19 2006 Without the vacuum bit, the water is going to be forced in the opposite direction to the car's movement, so the best option for this would be to route the water downards and towards the back of the car.
I can't see it running down and dripping out of the front unless the speed is quite low.-- fridge duck, Jun 20 2006 ...or one can just pull over and wipe the windshield with a pre-moistened wipey. They are sold in plastic pop out dispensers.-- xandram, Jun 20 2006 /but the automotive marketing industry realised that it could lead us around by the dicks//
Didn't the SUV spring out of a study of what women wanted out of a car?
And where does consumer choice figure in your little diatribe? If people wanted smaller cars (and plenty of us do) they would buy them (and plenty of us do). Car companies do their research before investing millions of dollars/pounds/marks in new models, and if a car turns out to be not what the public want they soon get the message.
If anyone is leading anyone by the dicks, it's the marketing men leading both sides.
And another thing - in their day (in Europe, anyway) the boxy old Volvos were reviled as being oversized, overpriced gas guzzlers. How quickly we romanticise the past.
Oh, + for the idea, even if it needs work.-- egbert, Jun 20 2006 Remember that the auto industry does not want to sell us the car we desire. They want to sell us the most profitable vehicle that they can. Similar, but not quite the same.
I was riding my motorscooter yesterday and thinking about this. I can use my scooter if I need to just carry myself, myself plus one passenger, myself plus a few bags of groceries, or myself plus a passenger, plus a few bags of groceries. This is a large persentage of the trips I have to make. I think the same is true of others.
Oh, and that paticular trip on my scoot was to go to Lowes to buy 100 sheets of gypsum wallboard. How did I do this on a scooter? I rented their truck for $19 to carry the stuff home, then returned the truck and rode home.
To bring it back on topic, while I was riding I did get sprinkled by a megacage jockey rinsing bird poo off his three acre windshield. So I am going to bun this idea.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Jun 21 2006 Clean Air Standards + MPG classification = need to put more "trucks" in private driveways.
I think this Idea comes from a frustrated driver who spends too little time between brakings close on the heels of other drivers. However, I have this idea for a mobile car wash that doesn't require stopping the car at all ... anyone interested be advised, I slow for caution lights.-- reensure, Jun 21 2006 My motorcycle has these. Although it does not have wipers, it has ducts that collect rain water and channel it to the underside of the fairing where it drips onto the ground rather than up over the screen onto me, or down over the headlight.-- webfishrune, Jun 21 2006 I would not suggest putting the outlet in the front. At freeway speeds, it would be much more sensible to have channels running up the sides of the front window, over the top, and back down towards the tail lights. At lower speeds, vacuums might be necessary, or a drop tube mounted on the bottom just in front of the front door might work.-- ye_river_xiv, Jun 22 2006 I would not think that spraying the person behind you would be an issue except at high speeds. As [UB] suggests, one could have openings around the windshield connecting to tubes which opened low on the rear of the car. The low pressure there and high pressure in front will create the differential needed to pull the water through and drop in behind the car.
Ah wipers. Such a huge HB category for such a prosaic item.-- bungston, Jun 22 2006 random, halfbakery