The evolution of the wiper blades evolved in tandem with the design of the automobile. Back in the day most vehicles on the street had no need for wiper blades, stuff like horse drawn carriages and trucks moved very gradually and had no need for wiper blades when it spitted as glass was not designed to protect the driver and act as a wind break device. These days you will find wiper blades on all sorts from trucks to cars all the way to helicopters and speed boats. Most wiper blades follow a similar design blue print, the maker buys all the parts required from businesses that take part in making parts from steel, aluminium, rubber and plastic, and even the motors themselves. Some companies only produce the wiper blades slip others generate the entire apparatus the sweeping arm and the electric motor.

Galvanised steel is used in numerous parts of the wipers construction process, it is utilised in the drive belt and the pivots and is essentially normal steel which has had a covering of zinc applied to its surface. This coating has a unique property, the zinc is more activated than the steel so the zinc will sacrifice itself and break down leaving the steel entirely untouched. In maritime environments the parts for wipers are usually made from complete stainless steel as the salt present in the water will rapidly attack any metal exposed and it therefore requires the maximum level of protection. Another advantage of using galvanised steel to make the wipers sweeping arm mechanism is that galvanised steel is much quicker and easier to paint than normal steel. The suspension beneath the wipers arm is also made from galvanised steel and in all the tiny parts the nuts, bolts, screws etc than are essential for holding the whole machine together.

The part of the assembly which holds the wiper blade in place is known as the frame and is nearly always made from aluminium. The wiper blade themselves are made most frequently from a rubber derivative or some other synthetic compound with the same attributes as rubber. Some wiper blade can even be a combination of two rubbers, one soft on the leading edge and one hard on the neigbouring side to support the integrity of the wiper blade. The small parts such as washers in the pivots and plastic bushings can also be made or rubber or plastic. The wiper blade motors are often bought from specialist sub contractors and made on site into the final product. Electric motors are housed in steel boxes for their protection and subsist of permanent magnetic motors which are wound with copper to create a magnetic field. The design of most wiper blade follows from a simple premise and that is to remove water from the wind screen of the motor so the driver can see. Many vehicles have wiper blade on the front of the wind screen and some have them fixed on the head lights too. The bigger vehicles often have them fitted to the rear wind screen as well. The standard windscreen wipers setup is usually one on each side of the front wind screen, sometimes the drivers is bigger than the passengers in this case.

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Filed under: Used Cars

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