Robert Kearns

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Robert William Kearns (born March 10, 1927 in Gary , Indiana , † February 9, 2005 in Baltimore , Maryland ) was an American engineer. He became known for the invention of the interval wiper , for which he filed the first US patent application on December 1, 1964.

Life

Kearns grew up near the Ford factory in River Rouge , Michigan . During World War II he worked for the Office of Strategic Services , a forerunner of the CIA.

He then received his doctorate in engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. This was followed by an eleven-year teaching position at Wayne State University .

He worked in Detroit as a commissioner of buildings and safety engineering until 1971 and then moved to Gaithersburg . There he worked as principal investigator for the highways at the National Bureau of Standards .

His wife divorced him in 1989 during the long court process. A court sentenced him to 120 days in prison in July 1990 for failing to pay US $ 700 alimony and not giving up his home in Gaithersburg. After 35 days in detention, he bowed to the court and also agreed to allow his wife 10% of the possible compensation payments.

In 2005 he succumbed to cancer .

Invention of the interval wiper and patent lawsuits

The idea for an interval wiper came to Kearns on his wedding night in 1953 when a champagne cork almost completely destroyed his left eye. The movements of the eyelid gave him the idea that windshield wipers could work at intervals as well.

In 1962 he applied for a patent for his invention. Shortly thereafter, he presented it to Ford Motor Company without waiting for the patent to be granted. His first patent on the interval wiper , US 3,351,836 , was granted on November 7, 1967. About 30 more followed later.

In 1969, Ford built the first interval wiper into its models; other automakers followed shortly. In 1976 he found out from a circuit for Mercedes-Benz that his son had bought that it was almost identical to his invention. Kearns then suffered a nervous breakdown and was treated at Montgomery General Hospital.

Kearns then sued Ford for $ 141 million in damages and filed lawsuits against 26 other automakers worldwide. After a twelve-year trial, Ford offered to close the case, which Kearns refused. His attorney at the time, William Durkee, estimated that Kearns could receive up to $ 50 million from Ford and other automakers.

In 1990, Kearns won the lawsuit against Ford and Chrysler : Ford was fined $ 10.2 million in damages for unintentional patent infringement, and later Chrysler was fined more than $ 20 million for unfair patent infringement.

Some other processes, including a. against German and Japanese automakers, were dropped after Kearns committed formal errors. When he quit his fifth law firm, for example, he missed deadlines and appointments.

filming

The American feature film Flash of Genius from 2008 tells the story of Robert Kearns. He is played in it by Greg Kinnear .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Matt Schudel: Accomplished, Frustrated Inventor Dies (English) . In: Washington Post , February 26, 2005. Retrieved June 13, 2013. 
  2. ↑ The cantankerous man behind the wipers. Accessed February 12, 2017 .
  3. ↑ US 3351836 of December 1, 1964

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kearns, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kearns, Robert William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American inventor of the interval wiper
DATE OF BIRTH March 10, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Gary (Indiana)
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 2005
Place of death Baltimore