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I've noticed a problem with current windshield wipers: they force the wiper fluid (or mud or whatever it is you're wiping) to the side, or over the top, where the fluid leaves streaks and/or stains all along the vehicle, and also spraying the unfortunate driver behind you with his sun-roof open or his
top down, not only staining his clothes but his car as well.
I would like to see a device that fits around the windshield like a picture frame and channels the run-off through tubes down to the ground. The tubes will be made of rubber hose or maybe plastic pipes and dangle a few inches above the ground, under the front end of the car.
I think this could be done with vacuum-suction holes spaced along the run-off frame. The vacuum would be activated automatically when the wipers come on.
If the vacuum-suction part is too complex or is just not practical, please suggest a better idea. I would really like to know how to make something like this, but I just don't know enough about the properties of liquids to make this happen.... yet.
winsheild blower
Wiper_20Run-off_20Collector
by danitpe. [BJS, Jun 19 2006]
[link]
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/don't know enough about the properties of liquids to make this happen.... yet./ |
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That sounds like you're hatching an evil plot for some reason. |
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Good idea. Would work sans vacuum, I think. |
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Maybe this could be combined with the “windshield blower” idea by [danitpe]. |
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The objective of most car manufacturers is to reduce the drag coefficient of the vehicle. This flies in the opposite direction. |
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That's what I was thinking. |
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_An_ objective is to reduce drag coefficient. Consider SUVs. |
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And they are becoming increasingly aerodynamic, [Texticle]. |
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While we're on the subject of SUVs, it might be instructive to look at why we buy them. I think it's a recognition that we need vehicles to be utilitarian. |
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Marketing of vehicles is heavily tied up in image, so we are flogged cars that are perceived to be faster, or more powerful, or tougher, than the next one. |
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We buy cars that are low and sleek, to reinforce our desired self image... then they do their stuff (Helping us believe our own propaganda long enough to enable us to get married) and we end up with kids and bicycles and shit that we have to carry around, so we should go out and buy a van (To carry all the crap and shopping and sports equipment and child restraints) to serve our needs. |
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Trouble is, vans aren't sexy, so we opt for the SUV that promises to enable us to drive to the top of the nearest mountain, in airconditioned comfort. |
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Complete overkill, "But you never know when you might need it." The reality is that we just want the carrying capacity and a bit of safety, but the automotive marketing industry realised that it could lead us around by the dicks, so we had to get bigger, more powerful cars, to compete. |
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I think there's a niche for a "Volvo. They're boxy, but good." campaign out there, to sell the cars we need, not the cars we think we want. |
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I doubt we'll ever sell it, until it's too late. Ford & GM are still producing land battleships, despite the evidence people want smaller, more economical cars. |
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A carmaker that just tells the truth, and appeals to commonsense, might be on a winner. |
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Without the vacuum bit, the water is going
to be forced in the opposite direction to
the car's movement, so the best option for
this would be to route the water downards
and towards the back of the car. |
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I can't see it running down and dripping
out of the front unless the speed is quite
low. |
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A Bernoulli vacuum might be useful at high speeds. |
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...or one can just pull over and wipe the windshield with a pre-moistened wipey. They are sold in plastic pop out dispensers. |
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/but the automotive marketing industry realised that it could lead us around by the dicks// |
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Didn't the SUV spring out of a study of what women wanted out of a car? |
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And where does consumer choice figure in your little diatribe? If people wanted smaller cars (and plenty of us do) they would buy them (and plenty of us do). Car companies do their research before investing millions of dollars/pounds/marks in new models, and if a car turns out to be not what the public want they soon get the message. |
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If anyone is leading anyone by the dicks, it's the marketing men leading both sides. |
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And another thing - in their day (in Europe, anyway) the boxy old Volvos were reviled as being oversized, overpriced gas guzzlers. How quickly we romanticise the past. |
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Oh, + for the idea, even if it needs work. |
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Remember that the auto industry does not want to sell us the car we desire. They want to sell us the most profitable vehicle that they can. Similar, but not quite the same. |
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I was riding my motorscooter yesterday and thinking about this. I can use my scooter if I need to just carry myself, myself plus one passenger, myself plus a few bags of groceries, or myself plus a passenger, plus a few bags of groceries. This is a large persentage of the trips I have to make. I think the same is true of others. |
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Oh, and that paticular trip on my scoot was to go to Lowes to buy 100 sheets of gypsum wallboard. How did I do this on a scooter? I rented their truck for $19 to carry the stuff home, then returned the truck and rode home. |
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To bring it back on topic, while I was riding I did get sprinkled by a megacage jockey rinsing bird poo off his three acre windshield. So I am going to bun this idea. |
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Clean Air Standards + MPG classification = need to put more "trucks" in private driveways. |
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I think this Idea comes from a frustrated driver who spends too little time between brakings close on the heels of other drivers. However, I have this idea for a mobile car wash that doesn't require stopping the car at all ... anyone interested be advised, I slow for caution lights. |
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My motorcycle has these. Although it does not have wipers, it has ducts that collect rain water and channel it to the underside of the fairing where it drips onto the ground rather than up over the screen onto me, or down over the headlight. |
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//If people wanted smaller cars (and plenty of us do) they would buy them (and plenty of us do).// |
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The odd thing being that in Europe at least our small cars get bigger on each model revision. |
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On topic, why not recycle that run off water through a simple filter back into the wiper fluid tank? When it starts to squirt out dark brown it's perhaps time for a fluid change. |
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I would not suggest putting the outlet in the front. At freeway speeds, it would be much more sensible to have channels running up the sides of the front window, over the top, and back down towards the tail lights. At lower speeds, vacuums might be necessary, or a drop tube mounted on the bottom just in front of the front door might work. |
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I would not think that spraying the person behind you would be an issue except at high speeds. As [UB] suggests, one could have openings around the windshield connecting to tubes which opened low on the rear of the car. The low pressure there and high pressure in front will create the differential needed to pull the water through and drop in behind the car. |
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Ah wipers. Such a huge HB category for such a prosaic item. |
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