This is one for Mr. HubNut

Hubnut has just arrived.

I gotta say, the fact that Citroen was using the difference in resistance to see how wet the windshield was is incredibly cunning.

HubNut will love this video

Who'da thunk wipers story could be so interesting. 2 wiper motor failure short stories. 1974, a cut potato smeared on the screen of my wife's Triumph 13/60 Herald got me home on a rainy night driving through city lights. Not something I'd want to do again. More memorable was a 140 mile journey though heavy rain in a Citroen Dyane. The motor failed while we were on holiday but the sun was shining most of the time. The day we were setting sail for home, heavy rain was forecast. Disconnecting the motor and running fishing line linked to both wiper blades and though the side windows got us home. The line was attached to a stick and, even though the wife too turns occasionally, my arm knew about it for days. I can still see the grooves the line wore in the plastic chrome strip that decorated the rain channel beside the windscreen. Thanks again. Still no Lego Lambo

I knew Citroën would have something to do with this story. Geniuses!

Next, make a full documentary about the Triangle of Doom featuring HubNut. He will tell you all about it and more. It’s not going to be a Corner of Disappointment.

Weird that they haven’t come up with something more sophisticated by now. It’s the obvious one to modernise on a car.

Kind of explains why Mr Hubnut isn't the biggest Ford fan.

I wipe my windows with a rag on a stick

Thanks, clearly a very important issue. I remember seeing a Mercedes single wiper design that moved the centre drive left to right and back, as well as reciprocating, it looked amazing. Good video on a little appreciated factor of motoring life.

I only clicked this video to see something about the one arm solution of Mercedes in the 80s and 90s...well :(

From Big Car to Mr HubNut!

You've done it! Made this mundane topic very interesting, and entertaining.

Magnificent explained. However..one little remark...the early 2cv used not the engine to power the wipers but the speedometer did drive them. Never the less, again a interesting vid 😎

At my family's glass shop, we use Rain-X not only on the auto glass we install, but also the bathroom mirrors and shower doors as it repels water and keeps mirrors from foggin up....✌🏻🇺🇸

Me with 37 homeworks i am 23 days late for due to tommorow or i fail the year:Hmmm Wiper yes interesting

Your video has reminded me that I need to replace my wipers. But I know I'll forget until I'm driving in the rain again. sigh.

Surprisingly fascinating. A long time ago, I loved how my 1980s Nissan has 3-5 different interval speeds. My wife’s Alfa Romeo had an interval setting for every speed, resulting in almost infinite options. A wider speed for any weather. Now, on my aging Mercedes, I never think about it. It wipes when the windscreen is wet, at the required interval. We have reached perfection.

Thank you for granting my previous request for this video

I *LOVE* when Im learning a bit of abstract knowledge and suddenly realize a practical application for it! So the rain sensing wipers on my car are “wipe-trash” (I’ll see myself out) and they never notice when it’s raining and it’s time to go to work. However, a few months ago I learned that if I gave the sensor pad on the windshield a good tap, they would work as intended ..for a while. Thanks to this video, I understand why. My “tapping” it, presses the sensor against the glass in a way that changes the angle of reflected light into it. I bet the adhesive used to attach it to the glass has been weakened somehow, allowing the sensor to slowly droop out of calibration until I press it back into place again. Fascinating!

Great info , brought back memories of wipers slowing down in traffic jams!

I recommend watching 2008's "Flash of Genius" It's a decent movie

My mother's Ford Falcon had vacuum operated wipers. And the wipers would slow down when going up the little hill to school. But being in San , she did not need to use them too much.

You do not KNOW how much u appreciate this! I’m a car enthusiast but my absolute FAVORITE part of a car are it’s wipers. I bought both of my Volvo’s because they have headlight wipers lol. THANKS!!

I am a 35yr auto technician. About 15 yrs ago, a coworker removed the wiper blades from a customer's car. He forgot to install the new ones and released the vehicle. When the customer inquired the technician said (true story) "Sorry, I guess that I forgot to wipe"

I knew some about the wiper history, but thank you for completing the picture of an underrated but important automotive part! D/A/G

Some of the high end cars use a device to slightly vibrate the glass to 'bounce' the water off the windshield, thus removing the need for windshield wipers.

Ooh.. ooh an upload. I love this channel and quite why I'm so excited about watching a video about windscreen wipers I'll never know. I begrudge adverts on other channels but you work so hard to create fascinating content that I always leave them on. I absolutely love the channel. You didn't mention string powered wipers that a few of us have had to use on old cars when they failed. (Obviously, used only until you got home, but a passenger was required to help)

Wow, my idea worked out for a new great video. Many, many thanks.

Another great presentation. Thankyou! X

Great video! Thanks for informing us!

Wonderful to watch the Little Car stories!

My mother's 1954 Chevrolet had wipers that moved just in their separate spaces and left the center of the windshield unwiped. They operated at only one speed, and slowed down when you were accelerating. My father had a 1956 Jeep that had a divided windshield; the driver's side had a wiper with its own little electric motor while the passenger side had a purely manual wiper that someone had to move by hand. Both of these were attached at the top, not the bottom - very old-fashioned.

best solution i ever had was my citroen c6 - huge wipers leaving only small triangle in the place where it didn't disturb, with very good sense for rain intensity in automated mode where i really didn't have to take care of anything... when changed for volvo s80, still fighting with the sensitivity setting, never got it right after almost two years with that car...

"it soon became clear" @ 1:07

In 1967 my school pal David had a Ford Popular with wipers that somehow worked off the carburettor air intake. The wipers would thrash frantically when the engine was idling and slow down as the engine speed increased, the exact opposite of what you wanted! They don’t make them like that any more.....

Putting a coat of Rain-X on makes all the difference.

I never faut wipers were this intresting great job !

Thanks Little Car 🚗 for sharing. Great video I enjoyed watching. The 2008 film Flash of Genius is a great film, about a very clever man who never gave up the fight for justice. A great story well worth watching. Thanks 🙏

That’s an interesting story in how it all began. On the Montego the wipers when not in use “parked” under the bonnet line making it more air dynamic. When in use wiped and around 15’ would sit and wait for the wipe or continuously

Such an underrated channel

I straight away thought of the scene in Fistful of Dynamite and the truck with the hand operated windscreen wipers.

I'm getting spoiled. Cars that turn their head lights on or off. Wipers that sense the rain and come on as needed. Wi-fi, infrared, bluetooth, one days I'll just be able to send the car out by itself to run my errands, etc.

It was great that Mr Kearns quite rightly triumphed. In this technological world, I've always wondered why some genius hasn't come up with a better system than a wiper to clear water off a windscreen.

Big Car or Little Car, all of your videos are great! For real

Interesting video of one of the most important safety equipment on all cars. Great channel! 😀 I have to say mr. HubNut has increased my interest to wipers 😄

That was surprisingly interesting! I now have the answer to how my car knows it’s raining, and a movie for a rainy day. 💦 Cheers.

In skoda felicia(and possibly other cars) you can switch wipers to a first position and turn them off. when you cant see again due to rain switch them back to position 1. they will remember how long they have been off and wipe in that interval. its much more intuitive than dial take controls the interval(found in first gen fabia for example). i heard people are searching for GLXi Felicia's that had this feature in scrapyards. specifically the relay

You are likely the only English speaking person I have heard that can pronounce « r’s » correctly when pronouncing French words. Kudos to you

Great video, thank you!

My 1964 Land Rover has an individual Lucas wiper motor for the driver’s side only. Passenger side wiper was an optional extra, on the passenger side, I have a blanking plate where the wiper arm would have been. Lucas wiper motors can also be hand operated, and my screenwash is a water filled bag that hangs inside the cab, operated by a push operated manual pump switch.

.... And then someone trained a pair of snakes to wave from left to right against the glass - result: *"Vindscreen Vipers!*"LOL

Superlative history!

Great job on the video.

Thanks, a very interesting video. I've thought about wipers before, mostly driving through heavy rain, when none of them work very well. With the exception of the change from vacuum to electric motors, parallel wiping, and intermittent wipers, there really has been very little change in how we clear rain from the windshield. I doubt there are many exposed parts on a car to have so few upgrades. I'm hoping some modern Robert Kearns is working on a system that really clears rain from the glass and doesn't uses rubber blades going back and forth.

Interesting video. Love the channel

And such a simple thing as a squeeky wiper can drive you literally mad !

Another great video!!!! Surprised you didnt mention single wipers and jumping wipers!

I wiped my screen of this video. When it was over, of course :)

The original Trico plant designed by Louis Kahn (one of many) in Buffalo, NY has been used as a storage facility for many years since Trico stopped production in the US back in the 1990s. The building has recently been acquired for development as a high-ceiling loft apartment building serving the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Buffalo General SUNY medical campus. The Oishei Foundation is one of the largest charitable organizations in Western New York, contributing to many educational and cultural institutions to this day.

Bloody brilliant. Get it? brilliant

Great video. We used to sell a product called Duxback. Like Rainex but lasts about 6 months. Amazing stuff

Interesting!

Is the question, why am i watching this, or why am I interested in this?

I remember watching that movie, the poor bloke lost almost everything to get his justice which make you wonder if it was worth it at the end.

Vacuum-driven wipers. I had an old Ford (it was ancient even then) fitted with them. Terrible things. They worked at idle when the vacuum was high, but got slower when the engine speed rose and the inlet vacuum dropped. More sophisticated cars had a vacuum reservoir, akin to the brake reservoir fitted later.

Good on Robert Kurns!

Brilliant Thank You. (:

Vacuum wipers were great fun. When you put your foot down to go up a hill the wipers would stop. Watch 'em go though when you went down the other side 😁

One of the earliest recorded patents for the windscreen wiper is by George J. Capewell of Hartford Connecticut, which was filed on August 6, 1896. His invention was for an automated, motorised, wiper for "cars, locomotives, and such land-vehicles". Other early designs for the windscreen wiper are credited to Polish concert pianist Józef Hofmann, and Mills Munitions, Birmingham who also claimed to have been the first to patent windscreen wipers in England. At least three inventors patented windscreen cleaning devices at around the same time in 1903; Mary Anderson, Robert Douglass, and John Apjohn. In April 1911, a patent for windscreen wipers was registered by Sloan & Lloyd Barnes, patent agents of Liverpool, England, for Gladstone Adams of Whitley Bay.

Actually the early Citroen 2CV's had their wipers connected to the speedometer cable, not the engine. That's why wipers stops when the car stops and the hand lever is needed. These can be recognized by the speedometer mounted in the windshield corner.

Didn't know that there was so much to the topic. Great video. Seeing as Trico is mentioned, I've had nothing but trouble with their refills , complete blades and even the additives. Eiterh simply cheap garbage products or just not suited to Australian climate.

We've come to expect much from the LittleCar, BigCar stable over recent months and this little nugget doesn't disappoint either.... It is a concise , light & informative snack. May I offer one tiny suggestion that definitely isn't meant as criticism? Quite a few episodes seem to end rather abruptly. I only notice this because there I am, motoring along, really engrossed & enjoying an episode and then quite suddenly...... it's gone, cut to Patreon & credits! Perhaps a few words in conclusion, pulling together the various strands of the story would round things off very neatly & professionally? That being said, I truly believe that the BigCar family of channels is fast gaining a reputation for producing high quality bitesized edutainment , with plenty of fun & candour thrown in for good measure.... A tasty little recipe for success I'd say.

Next make a video about the electric starter motor, that's another part that we take for granted today!

In case anyone hasn't tried Rainex you should you should, if you are going fast enough in a light shower you don't need wipers at all and when it pours it even better with wipers.

"a cyclist ran into him" you mean he ran over a cyclist?

08:17 The film Flash of Genius was great. If you like Big Car and Little Car I think you'll really enjoy it.

I love the car tech. videos.

3:46 we can see perfect the mecanism. Thanks for black subtitle. At 9:17 we have the same problem....

My Civic's wipers are hinged in the corners of the windscreen. They have larger coverage than traditional wiper arrangements.

I love how you pronounce 'Citroen'...bravo!

Should have mentioned John Delorean's retractable wipers.

Back in 2003 I had a Peugeot 307 DTurbo that had automatic rain-sensing wipers. I thought "this is it, this is what all cars will have from now on", but NO... I've never had a car with that since. Oh well.

Automobile's have Windshield's & Aircraft have Windscreen's ! There is a Massive Engineering Difference !? YYZ , Mohawk-Planker .

Pneumatic wipers used to be common on railway locomotives which all have a compressed air system. I'm not sure whether they were used on road trucks as well?

I once heard that Chrysler had a notion to do away with wipers, and opt for a coated glass, (think of some kind of super-rainx) with air nozzles that would blow air at high velocity. The coating would bead the water, and the air would blow it away. Eliminating any temporary visual obstruction of the wipers moving across the field of view, and any wear of, and thus need to replace wipers. Yeah that sounded good. When I heard of it I was almost convinced. But then I realized, we live in the real world where birds exist. And bugs. As well as dirt, mud and road gunk. Also the noise of the blowers and the loud leaf-blower sound of the system would be quite more annoying then the occasional "fwip! fwip!" of wipers. The idea never came to fruition. And knowing Chrymofiamler, it would have broken in a month anyway, or been phased out when they sold out to the next company down the line.

In my experience, there were 10 ads on this 10 minute video.

I just stick my head out the side window, my dog taught me

Just purchased a newer vehicle & had to figure out how to operate the wiper system. Bet those early wipers had the Debbil of a time w/Love Bugs

'Vacuum' systems used to slow when going faster or up hill....due to throttle plate opening

The wipers on the Citroen 2CV were actually driven from the speedometer cable.

Small error but vacuum wipers use inlet manifold vacuum to to operate the wipers rather than gas from the exhaust. It’s the “sucking” of the air into the engine that moves them, not the “blowing” of the exhaust coming out.

12 years for such an obvious situation... Sheesh

BR trailed the Clearview system on Western Class locos D1006 and D1039 as the standard wiper system on the class of locomotives was not effective. In the end BR decided not to fit them to the rest of the class and they were removed and the standard system put back.

I've yet to see a rain-sensing system that works properly and reliably all of the time. Manually adjustable intermittent wipers are still superior.

One of the first wiper projects was successfully proposed to Ford by the outstanding Polish pianist Józef Hofmann (1875-1957), who was inspired by the metronome movement. It is worth mentioning that Hofmann was an extraordinary figure - apart from his incredible musical talent, he made over 70 inventions. If you are interested, please visit Wikipedia.

My 1956 Plymouth had continuously variable electric wipers that varied from very slow to very fast. It was the best thing going until "delay" came along.

Great video! But I thought Lucas invented the intermittent windshield wiper? I know they invented self-dimming headlights. :)

Tesla System improved quite well, actual its comparable to around Hella Rain Sensor used in the current Ford Mondeo. His biggest issue is dealing with low amounts of rain. ;)