On Thu, 22 Dec 1994, Lewis Dunbar Dove wrote:
> Yes, I have had a lot of experience with vacuum wipers too.
> It is interesting that back in the 20's when the first Model A Fords
> came out, the vacuum wipers were considered more desirable than the
> electric kind; both were better than the hand-operated Model T
> version! One drive with Emma, my 28 Ford in the rain convinced me
> that vacuum wipers would have been better. Emma's electrics are SLOW.
> Anyway, by the late 30's and 40's electrics were coming into their
> own in the US, with two and three speed motors fairly common.
Maybe, but vacuum-operated wipers persisted into the early 1950's, at
least in GM cars.
> I am surprised that vacuum reservoirs for wipers were not
> more common. After all, vacuum sources were used in lieu of fuel
> pumps at one time; remember those?
And some cars had mechanical fuel pumps with built-in vacuum pumps to
assist manifold vacuum in keeping the wipers going. Seems to me that a
vacuum reservoir would have been a lot simpler and more reliable.
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Chip Old 1948 M.G. TC TC6710 NEMGTR #2271
Cub Hill, Maryland 1962 Triumph TR4 CT3154LO (daily transportation)
fold@mail.bcpl.lib.md.us
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