On this day in 1927, inventor and engineer Robert Kearns was born, putting into motion a tale of automotive patent battles.

Kearns invented an intermittent windshield wiper, the first windshield wiper controlled by an electric motor and the first that could be set to move back and forth faster or more slowly instead of in a continuous motion. Kearns patented his design in 1967 and presented it to automakers including Ford and Chrysler. Their engineers examined the plans but did not enter into an arrangement with Kearns. Nevertheless, intermittent wipers began to appear first from Ford in 1969 and later from other automakers.

Kearns dove into the legal system, fighting not only for recompense but for the ability to make and sell his own windshield wipers to the automakers. He was awarded $10 million against Ford in a case that was ruled “non-deliberate patent infringement,” and $20 million against Chrysler, but kept pushing for control over the product until his death from cancer in 2005.