Science & invention / Auto industry / Law
Robert Kearns
1927–2005 · engineer and inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper
Detroit-educated engineer who invented the intermittent windshield wiper and fought Ford and Chrysler in court for decades; his story is the film Flash of Genius.
- Born
Gary, Indiana- Died
Baltimore, Maryland
aged 77- Birth name
- Robert William Kearns
- Detroit years
- 1940s–1970s
- Field
- Science & invention, Auto industry, Law
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Kearns earned a mechanical engineering degree at the University of Detroit and a master's in engineering mechanics at Wayne State University before a doctorate in Cleveland. Blinded in one eye by a champagne cork on his wedding night in 1953, he was driving his Ford Galaxie in light rain in 1963 when the steady sweep of the wipers bothered him; modeling his idea on the blinking eye, he built an electronic intermittent wiper and patented it in 1964. Ford showed interest, then dropped talks, and in 1969 began offering its own intermittent wipers; the other automakers followed. Kearns sued Ford in 1978 and Chrysler in 1982, often acting as his own lawyer. Ford paid $10.2 million in 1990 and Chrysler about $30 million after a 1992 verdict. A 1993 New Yorker article became the 2008 film Flash of Genius.
Highlights
- Patented the intermittent windshield wiper (filed 1964)
- Won patent cases against Ford (1990) and Chrysler (1992)
- Received about $10 million from Ford and $30 million from Chrysler
- Portrayed by Greg Kinnear in Flash of Genius (2008)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1940s–1950s
University of Detroit Mercy
He earned his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering here (then the University of Detroit).
Studied here · 1950s
Wayne State University
He earned a master's degree in engineering mechanics here.