The Story of Inventor Mary Anderson

Identifying Individuals, Events, and Ideas

Riding a trolley on a rainy day in New York City, Anderson noticed that the rain made it hard for the driver to see out the windshield. He had to stop the trolley every few minutes, get out, and wipe off the windshield by hand. The driver got soaking wet in the process. Anderson thought to herself, There has to be a better way. She carried this thought with her back home to Alabama, where she began working to create the first mechanical windshield wiper.

Carlos is identifying the individuals, events, and ideas in this article. What should his list look like?

Final answer:

The list Carlos should make includes Mary Anderson and the trolley driver as individuals, Anderson's visit to New York and the trolley driver's wiping of the windshield as events, and the need for a windshield wiper as the idea, which corresponds to option D.

Who is inventor Mary Anderson?

Mary Anderson had the idea for a windshield wiper blade that the trolley driver could control from the inside while exploring New York City in a trolley car on a snowy day in the early 1900s.

Inventor of the windshield wiper in 1902 was a woman who didn't drive. Entrepreneur Mary Anderson believed it was absurd that streetcar drivers in New York had to repeatedly jump off to clear the windshield of snow. For her "window washing equipment," she quickly obtained a patent.

The first functional windshield wiper is credited to Alabama native Mary Anderson (1866–1953). She referred to her creation as a window cleaning device for electric cars and other vehicles in her 1903 patent.