Visalia headlight wiper one of the first

It's not unusual to see headlight wipers on some luxury-class autos these days, but if Visalia inventor Charles B. Baughn had his way the wipers would have been common even back in the 1940s.

From the artist's rendering on the top image you can see the front portion of the vehicle's grill and the bullet-style headlamp that was mounted on the fender.

The wiper was a propeller-looking mechanism that spun to wipe off road grime and water from the headlight glass.

In 1942, Baughn described his invention as "a wiper which will be automatically operated by air currents when the vehicle is in motion.

"A further object is to provide a wiper which will clean off moisture, dirt or other particles, such as insects, dust or snow, which gather on the glass fronts of automobiles during their operation.

A further object is to provide a device of the class described, which will be simple in operation, economical in construction, and readily adapted to standard equipment," Baughn said in his patent application.

Since Baughn's design, other inventors have come up with variations on the theme.

Apparently it wasn't until 1970 that headlight wipers were used on production autos. Saab was the first. Other European models have followed suit.

For a look at Saab's design, see their history page here.

Baughn's wiper design is interesting because it is reminiscent of his first patented invention - a propeller for an airplane. In 1931, he patented a propeller blade. What made this propeller blade unique was that its pitch would be adjusted by the air pressure against it to optimize thrust.