In 1953, on his wedding night, Robert Kearns popped a celebratory bottle of champagne in his hotel room. The cork flew into his left eye, leaving him legally blind in that eye. A decade later, this unfortunate accident became the inspiration for an invention we still use today.

In November 1962, Kearns was driving his Ford Galaxie through Detroit when it began to drizzle. He switched on his windshield wipers, which had only two speeds at the time, driven by a vacuum-powered system: fast and faster. 

As the wipers squeaked across his windshield, Kearns grew frustrated. The wipers were designed for steady rain, not finer drizzles like this one. The constant back-and-forth motion was not only unnecessary but also distracting, particularly for Kearns with his impaired vision.

So he started thinking. Why did wipers have to move continuously? Wouldn’t it be better if they moved intermittently, like the human eye, which blinks every few seconds instead of constantly opening and shutting?

Using off-the-shelf parts—a transistor, a resistor, and a capacitor—Kearns built a prototype of an electric intermittent wiper in his basement and installed it on his personal car. It worked wonderfully, allowing him to adjust the delay between windshield wipes. Now he just needed to sell it.

A $557 Million Theft

In 1963, Kearns met with representatives from both Ford and Chrysler to pitch his intermittent windshield wipers. Ford expressed interest but asked Kearns to perform additional testing to ensure the wipers met their standards for longevity. Kearns did so, and after his wipers passed the test, he filed for his first patent on December 1, 1964 (with the patent being granted on November 7, 1967).

After a series of presentations, Ford offered him a contract, with one condition. The wipers weren’t just a convenience. They were a significant safety improvement, improving visibility and reducing driver fatigue. A Ford representative explained that, because the wipers were a “safety item,” the law required that Kearns disclose all the details of the invention before they could give him the contract. At the time, this seemed reasonable to Kearns, and he agreed.

Five months later, Ford dismissed Kearns, telling him that their engineers had designed their own wiper instead. In 1969, they debuted the industry’s first intermittent windshield wiper, with the same configuration that Kearns had designed. 

By 1989, Ford would sell 20.6 million cars with the intermittent wiper purchased as an add-on, with a profit calculated at $557 million. The true loss to Kearns was far greater, because other major automotive companies quickly followed suit with similar intermittent windshield wipers using his configuration, including Chrysler, General Motors, Saab, Honda, Volvo, Rolls-Royce, and Mercedes. 

The Battle for Justice

When Kearns realized what had happened, he had a mental breakdown that led to a two-week stay in a psychiatric ward. Feeling betrayed and appalled by the injustice, Kearns embarked on a monumental legal battle against these automotive titans. 

He filed his first lawsuit in 1978 against Ford. As big corporations usually do in patent cases, Ford stalled, hoping Kearns would run out of motivation or money. It is a tactic that has unfortunately proved successful time and time again. This time, though, Ford underestimated Kearns’s tenacity, which soon transformed into an obsession.

Over the next twelve years, Kearns hired and fired five different legal firms and ultimately decided to represent himself. Eventually, Ford offered him a $30 million settlement. Against everyone’s advice, he turned it down. Accepting the settlement required clearing Ford from any wrongdoing, and he refused to do that. This wasn’t about the money for him.

In January 1990, the case finally went to trial.

Kearns sought damages of $395 million. The jury ruled in Kearns’s favor, but they awarded him only $5.2 million, with Ford agreeing to pay $10.2 million to avoid further litigation. 

Kearns went after Chrysler as well, receiving approximately $30 million in compensation. After that, he filed more suits against more than a dozen other manufacturers.

Victory, But at What Cost?

Kearns's unwavering determination in the face of overwhelming odds is inspiring and vindicating for all independent inventors struggling to defend their patents against corporate infringement.

And yet … there is something deeply sad and unsatisfying about his story. His victory came only with great sacrifices. He spent decades and more than $11 million fighting this battle. It became his entire life, and as a result, his wife filed for divorce, and his relationship with his children became strained.

As much as we love stories of Davids winning out over Goliaths, the unfortunate reality for most independent innovators is that they will not have the money and time needed to take on big corporations. Still, Kearns gives us hope that justice can and will prevail. His legacy reminds us that what matters most is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.