Charlotte Bridgwood

Carlotta Bridgwood (Dunn, 18 agosto 1861 - 20 agosto 1929) conosciuta come artista canadese di vaudeville, madre di Florence Lawrence, considerata la "prima star del cinema",  e inventrice dell'indicatore di direzione, del semaforo, della luce del freno e dei tergicristalli automatici che brevettò nel 1917 senza mai poter portare il suo progetto in piena produzione.

Alla sua scadenza, nel 1920 la Cadillac lo mise di serie sulle sue auto.

Nota a margine, era presidente della Bridgwood Manufacturing Company. E adoravo le macchine!

Testo di Tiziana Ghiggia

Illustration by Michela Chiarelli

Charlotte Bridgwood (born August 18, 1861, in Dunn; died August 20, 1929) was a Canadian vaudeville artist, the mother of Florence Lawrence—often considered the "first movie star"—and an inventor of several automotive innovations. Among her inventions were the direction indicator, the traffic light, the brake light, and the automatic windshield wiper, which she patented in 1917. Unfortunately, she was never able to bring her automatic wiper design into full production.

When her patent expired, Cadillac made the automatic windshield wiper a standard feature on its cars in 1920.

In addition to her inventive work, Charlotte Bridgwood was the president of the Bridgwood Manufacturing Company and had a great passion for cars.