The Sebir That Bred The Intermittent Windscreen Wiper
In 1962, an engineer and inventor Bob Kearns, whose eyesight was partially impaired, was driving in rain and was struggling to see because of the constant movement of the wiper blades. Faced with this problem, he began thinking about how the human eye blinks to clean itself only when it needs to
Goal
Improve the efficiency of car windscreen wipers
Problem
Once activated, wipers operated incessantly irrespective of whether it's raining or not
Sebir
The efficiency of car windscreen wipers was transformed through sensitizing their operation to the incidence of rain Manual 'on-off' activation was no longer necessary as the windscreen wipers operated only when needed
Historic Impact
Paying attention to the possible conversion of human attributes to physical products and services can be the trigger for an innovative solution. Bob Kearn's insight and subsequent endeavors led to the invention of the intermittent windscreen wiper
Breeding Comment
Drawing a broader parallel from a specific observation or experience and then visualizing a narrower application in a quite different setting is the secret behind idea breeding. Bob Kearns associated more broadly from the capability of the human eye to self-clean by blinking when needed and, in so doing, was able to breed a wiper that automatically cleaned the windscreen only when it rained