Further to my thread on Bulbs v LEDs - aren't car companies really conservative in some ways?
It's extraordinary that after a century of motoring the best way to clear rainwater from windows still seems to be by wiping them repeatedly with a thin strip of rubber fixed to a waggling arm.
How low-tech is that?
And yet... can anyone come up with a better/more cost effective modern way of achieving clear wet weather vision?
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My new Merc has two large bits of floppy rubber that squeek like mad when wiped across a piece of glass.
Hows that for progress eh.
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There was the Citroen DS, which had its front and rear windscreens curved, so that the rain just ran off.
I went as a passenger in my teens, I think, and was amazed as the heavens opened and the driver didn't need his wipers.
There's lots of technology available with silicone coatings for glass, which water won't stick to.
I think the root cause is that we're all a bit conservative.
How long have seatbelts been fitted, yet when they came out, nobody would wear them?
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still had wipers tho.. Funny thing is they fit them to planes and trains still.(ok I know the planes dont use them when flying, but they do when taxiing
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Many water borne vessels, and life boats in particular, have a hole cut in the windscreen (I'm sure there's a better term when applied to a boat) that is then filled with a fast spinning transparent disk. All a bit overkill for even the heaviest deluge encountered on the road though, and hardly suited to aesthetics, either!
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I think it's called a Kent screen. Why I don't know.
H.
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Nearly there Hawkeye, they are known as Kent Clearscreen.
Kent was the original manufacturer IIRC.
Considering the thick seal round the circumference of the spinning disc and the bulky drive mechanism and central bearing I always though Clearscreen was a bit of a misnomer.
Not sure why they were ever more popular on boats than wipers, maybe wipers are more likely to be damaged if shipping big green water? Or maybe its the salt which dries on, but then you do get boats with normal wipers incl. big pantograph jobbies so I give up.
Get the helm stood out in it with a sou'wester on, much more fun!
---------------
Without sin there is no fun: Rasputin
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Yup,
I think the DS had them for stationary in traffic.
Can't believe I used to moan about traffic, when I was a lad, seeing as what we put up with now.
"Are we nearly there yet, Dad?
Are we?
Are we yet?
Are we now?
When, Dad?"
Used to drive him nuts.
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I've had 2 Citroen DS and I don't remember not needing the wipers when it rained. On the saloon and safari, the water was directed away from the rear screen by aerodynamics. The later CX saloon with the concave rear window would keep water off if speed was over 20 mph.
When I was a youth I had a book on advanced car design that assured me that wipers would be obsolete in a few years because a high-pressure jet of air would blow rainwater away from the screen, or that the screen could be made to vibrate so fast that raindrops wouldn't settle. Didn't allow for summer fly corpses though.
I use Rain-X to keep the side windows clear.
H.
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"When I was a youth I had a book on advanced car design that assured me that wipers would be obsolete in a few years because a high-pressure jet of air would blow rainwater away from the screen, or that the screen could be made to vibrate so fast that raindrops wouldn't settle."
I remember that, too, although I read it in the Eagle! Mind you, as comics go, that was pretty advanced...
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It is bizarre, isn't it? But, as you say: "can anyone come up with a better/more cost effective modern way of achieving clear wet weather vision?" The answer is, probably not.
After all, what do window cleaners use to remove all traces of soap, dirt and water..?
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> I know the planes don't use them when flying, but they do when taxiing <
I fly 747's and we often switch the wipers on in the final stages of approach in heavy rain, helps us to see the runway during the landing and roll out!
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Wow Colin,
I thought that I had it bad driving a bus around the North West (now South East) - you actually fly a Boeing 747?????????
I am in awe!
Cheers
Rob
"Lord of Lard"
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Colin, can I ask this?
Why do planes have headlights?
Whenever I see a plane at night it has big pair of beams that stretch out probably only the same as the planes length. At such speed surely no-one can react to another plane in that short distance
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I've noticed though that the rubber blades my local hand carwash use to dry the paintwork that have multiple fins - usually two or three - and these do an amazing job. Assuming this works on the same principle as double bladed razors (what you miss with the first, you nail with the second!) wouldn't this result in slightly more effective clearance? The only issue I can see is that flexibility would be lower than with a single blade, so you'd have to present the wipers to the screen at a more or less consistent 90 degrees and let the blade edge do the rest.
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When using the screen wash function my Audi's wipers drag across the screen for half a cycle before the washer water hits the screen, i asked Audi if they could reprogram the ECU to allow water first followed by the wipers 5 seconds later, i was told no?
I'm sure that's how my primera worked.
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Why fix it if it ain't broke, wipers do a remarkable job bearing in mind their humble origins, they have evolved over the years but if you can drive at all speeds in the heaviest downpours why change them with an expensive to fix gizmo.
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My only possible solution would be to blow high pressure air from the base of the windscreen which would literally blow the water off. Problem is, the compressor required would be more expensive than two bits of rubber and a pair of waggly arms.
Andy
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I owned a Renault 12 for about 7yrs, after a couple of years I noticed that the concave headlamp lens's never needed cleaning. No fly spots, no road dirt.
Concave windscreen ?
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Rob, the lights on planes are actually quite effective both on the ground and for lighting up the touchdown area of poorly lit runways (Delhi, Nairobi, Calcutta etc). For taxiing, they are invaluable, even at Heathrow. We have two sets in the wing roots and a pair on the nosewheel that are angled out at about 45 degrees.
The wing lights are the ones you see when planes are flying around or in a hold (Biggin, Ockham, Stapleford, Bovingdon around Heathrow). To preserve the life of the bulbs, they run at half brightness until the gear is lowered, so they won't appear that bright to an observer on the ground. Given the fact the plane is probably 3-4 miles from you horizontally, the lights do help with the visibility of the plane (see and avoid) and it is standard procedure to switch them on when below 10,000 feet (ie in departure or approach phases of flight) even in daylight.
Your eye is quite adept at picking up small moving objects in your peripheral vision especially if they stand out well against the background, so the lights are very useful.
From where I sit, when all switched on, the lights illuminate a huge portion of ground in front of the plane, as tested when we leave Bombay, there is a shanty town built right alongside the edge of the airport perimeter fence. As we are cleared to line up on the runway (a 180 degree turn from the taxiway we are on) we switch all the lights on and illuminate the little huts with a temporary daylight.
The lamps on most Boeings are Par 64 sealed beam units. I don't know the wattage, but we have a standing instruction to switch them off when turning onto the stand to avoid damaging the retinas of ground staff waiting to attend to the plane.
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The veiw of the road would be a great big blur, due to the distorsion.
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"allow water first followed by the wipers"
My Audi is the same, but my partners's little Mazda does it the other way round, which is clearly far more sensible. Guess which windscreen has the most scratch-marks?
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"allow water first followed by the wipers"
My Triumph 2000 has two switches, one for wipers, one for wash.
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I can't honestly remember what mine does, but as I'm in the habit of (how shall I put this in a technical manner?) squirting the water first and then switching the wipers on, it doesn't really matter to me.
I think you've lost me a bit - I just do what I do ... pull lever towards me, water squirts, and then twist to deploy wipers.
Replacement wiper blades annoy me though, especially the ones I had last time - think they must be too cheap and cheerful :(
or I'm just not very good at fitting things
"Appearances can be Deceptive"
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The laguna does not have washer jets, it has kind of thin wide spray nozzles. You dont get a jet of water but a spray that covers all the windscreen. Quite effective, but not powerful enough to knock the bugs off, they still get spread over the windscreen by the wipers.
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