Windshield Wiper System Designs

[dvonk]

And totally off subject- Why, on this side of the big pond, does the driver side wiper push its water to the left of the vehicle and down to the middle of the windshield, while the passenger side wiper pushes its water down to the lower right of the windshield and in front of the driver!?!:tongue:

my 1986 Jaguar XJS had 'reverse' wipers that pushed water away from the driver... but it probably doesnt really count as an american car. :wink:

http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11982&d=1342408982

[Dangermouse]

And totally off subject- Why, on this side of the big pond, does the driver side wiper push its water to the left of the vehicle and down to the middle of the windshield, while the passenger side wiper pushes its water down to the lower right of the windshield and in front of the driver!?!
:tongue:

It's the same concept on the other side of the pond, but in reverse.

I would assume it is so you don't have a large un-wiped triangle in the upper left corner (while sitting behind the wheel).

I know some Mercedes have a funky single wiper, centrally mounted with a cam actuator that tries to get the wiper blade into every corner of the windscreen.

[DCUK Martin]

Yes that Jag has right hand drive wipers which havent been reversed.

On the subject of the Mercedes Monoblade - I had one on my Venturi 300 - and also the single wiper on the Lotus Elise (taken from a Citroen AX & BX), having a wiper NOT come to rest at the bottom of the screen in front of the driver makes for water constantly travelling up the glass in front of you from the last time the wiper swept the area.

The traditional wiper system used on the DeLorean and most other cars is the best way to do it except for the fact that it isn't ambidextrous. There are other designs like on the Honda Civic and Ford Galaxy (Europe) and the ridiculously goofy ones on the Renault Alpines that are though. You can see the Venturi and Alpine ones in this ancient Top Gear review.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeYSE9K9Nus

[Tillsy]

My daily driver has two different sized wipers - the one on the driver's side is much larger than the passenger side. Works fantastically in keeping the driver's side completely pristine.

[Ron]

I don't know....maybe I'm just not seeing things clearly and need to try sitting on the passenger side. :deviltail:

Maybe it would be better to tell me what's wrong with my thinking rather than hear it explained with another's take on it...
Straighten me out here (US vehicles):

During the first half of a cycle, the driver side wiper slings its water up and off to the left with a ~90° sweep. Mostly gone. Meanwhile, the passenger side wiper slings its water up and straight across, in front of the driver (which was just cleared off!) with a ~120° sweep! All while more rain falls on the windshield. Note that the majority of the passenger side wiper's water is still on the windshield in the worse place possible.

During the second half of a cycle, the passenger side wiper slings its water (mostly freshly fallen) right and downward, with a ~120° sweep. Mostly gone. Meanwhile, the driver side wiper slings its water (freshly fallen on its side AND most of the passenger side wiper's water from the previous cycle) right and downward with a ~90° sweep. Note it starts just past straight up, so its water is slung down the center with most of it winding up on the bottom.

I don't know how much of the water pushed down by both sides flows to the sides of the windshield due to wind or into drains on some vehicles etc and gone, but even if it were all of it (which it is not), the driver side wiper has to handle ~half of the passengers side's water as well as all of its own. And, although the blades are the same length, to make matters worse, the passenger side blade makes 30° greater sweeps!

It just doesn't make sense to sling the majority of the water in front of the driver, or walk it from right to left.


I think I could put up with the goofy Alpines system...:devil:

[dvonk]

since we now have a dedicated thread to wiper designs, here is the design from my 1958 Buick. both the wipers rest side-by-side in the center and wipe in opposing outward arcs towards their respective sides of the vehicle. each arm follows a shaped cam that allows the wiper to hug the curved sides of the windshield. seems like an efficient design to me... they arent throwing water at each other like ron mentioned. :lol:

http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=11992&d=1342476999

11992

[Ron]

Cool!

I saw one of those is sitting with an oak tree growing up through the engine bay right across the TN border back when the cash for clunkers deal was going on...

[DMC5180]

My folks used to have a 1973 Mercedes 220 that had overlapping opposite sweep wipers.

[David T]

There have been many variations of wiper systems. There have been wipers that mounted on top of the windscreen, 3 wiper blades, unequal sized, mono-blades, opposing blades, overlapping etc. It is one of the few areas where you see no standard system. The main purpose is to try to wipe as much of the surface of the windscreen as possible. There is also a lot of variation as to how the washer fluid is sprayed. The # of nozzles, where they are located, stationary or mounted on the wiper arm, etc. What is most important is to replace the wiper blades when the rubber is old or damaged and keep the glass clean. Wax makes the wiper blades chatter and skip. If you go to a car wash you need to clean the wax off the glass afterwards.
David Teitelbaum

[Dangermouse]

This has been bugging me, but I suddenly realized that my old 4th Gen Dodge Grand Caravan had those unusual wipers that both sides sweep from the bottom center of the window up to the vertical on either side. Sounds like exactly what you are after Ron. It was clearly a success as they switched back to traditional design on my new 5th Gen van.