Heated Windscreen

Gloomendoom

Premier wrote: »

Please try to keep awake. Yes, those 'wiggly elements' i.e the unique way Ford have heated front screens is what they had a patent on. That's why no other car company has had them for the past 20 odd years.

You saw one of those in 1958? I think your mind is playing tricks on you. Back in that age, you were lucky to get a plastic stick on heater on the rear screen, the ones that usually went yellow/cloudy after a bit of sunlight.

There may well have been a heated front screen of some type way back then, but not of the design, or performance, Ford have used for the past 20 years.

Ford's marketing team really deserve a prize. Maybe Mythbusters could do a programme on it.

Premier_2

Gloomendoom wrote: »

To you, maybe.

No, they just have a patent on the shape of an heating element. That isn't the same thing at all.

No that's not what the patent is for at all.
Infact, take a look at the early Pilkington screens (UK Suppllier) and compare to the similar age Saint Gobain (German supplier) and you'll see they are different; one is a zig-zag whilst the other is similar to a sine wave.

So it obviously can't be the shape of the heating element itself!

(and the fact the same technology is used in aviation where Ford took the idea from initially)

Gloomendoom

Premier wrote: »

No that's not what the patent is for at all.
Infact, take a look at the early Pilkington screens (UK Suppllier) and compare to the similar age Saint Gobain (German supplier) and you'll see they are different; one is a zig-zag whilst the other is similar to a sine wave.

So it obviously can't be the shape of the heating element itself!

(and the fact the same technology is used in aviation where Ford took the idea from initially)

IIRC the clever thing about Ford's elements was that very zig-zag shape which prevented the driver's eyes focusing on the screen elements rather than the road ahead. Early heated screens, like those fitted in old Land Rovers, had straight elements which can create a distraction. I suspect that the Saint Germain sine wave elements were an attempt to reduce distraction as well.

Gloomendoom

Here is part of the text from a Saint Germain patent application for an electrically heated laminated glass panel. Dated 1956.

This invention has particular application in connection with windshields or canopies for airplanes or other vehicles which embody glass panels of unusual configuration where the commonly used methods of electrically heating these panels does not afford uniform or effective heat throughout the entire surface areas there of.

Electrically heated laminated glass panel

wannabehermit

forgotmyname wrote: »

Will you think its a good idea when it fails and they want £600+ for a new one?

Or find the fact it switches on when its below 4 degrees a great idea when the screens already clear and your battery
is struggling.

One thing though. Because it pulls approx 60 AMPS... If the heated front screen doesnt come on as soon as you start the
car you know your battery is starting to fail.

It will only come on if the voltage is high enough.


Ford have the patent? 60's and 70's rally cars had heated windscreens. I remember the old mini cooper rally cars with them.

I've been driving Fords pretty much since I passed my test, had a few other things cos that's what my ex wanted, but split up with him and straight back to Ford. All of mine have a button like the rear heated windscreen, and none have ever failed. Also if you need a new screen, you just pay your windscreen excess, no £600 bill needed.

Love it this time of year when I get in the car and 30 seconds later am driving away while all the neighbours with their shiny new cars are out there scraping away and getting cold hands.

The old style heated screens were just a single wire (similar to the ones across the back screen) around the edge of the screen. My dad had a Vauxhall Senator with it on, was crap.

Notmyrealname

Lovelyjoolz wrote: »

Might just be me, but I always find the wires in the screen distracting. Always been a VW girl myself, but a friend has a Mondeo and I really don't like those little wiggly lines!

After a while you stop noticing them.

Notmyrealname

forgotmyname wrote: »

One thing though. Because it pulls approx 60 AMPS...

It doesn't draw 60A, the cable would melt long before that. I have one on my Mondeo and I have also run 60A cable to the boot for powering electrical gear. The 60A rated cable I used is a lot thicker than that which powers the screen elements.

Notmyrealname

Premier wrote: »

As Mark Hewitt says, you need to press a button to turn them on ... and they are on a timer so turn off after a few minutes automatically.

On my Mondeo they come on automatically if the outside temperature is below a certain level but only when you've started the car.

avantra

Yep, many aircrafts had those since the 1950's, Ford are good in bringing useful options to the masses, BMW do the opposite (iDrive).

In my Fusion Climate the same button do the front windshield and side mirrors. I sold my dedicated super grippy ice scraper to another gentleman at a car boot sale last year.

dieselglider

They're really handy to use as an electrical retarder going down an icy hill. Use it combined with the rear screen heater, and the blower heater speeds for variable braking force. Ace!