project trico see the last guardian . trico type private industry automotive founded 1917 founder john r. oishei headquarters formerly buffalo new york ; now rochester hills michigan usa area served worldwide key people gregory flake president and ceo products wiper blades owner crowne group llc number of employees 6 000 website tricoproducts.com trico is an american company that specializes in windshield wipers . trico then known as tri continental corporation invented the windshield wiper blade in 1917 . 1 its original trico plant no. 1 is listed on the national register of historic places . 2 trico is today one of the leading manufacturers of windshield wiping systems windshield wiper blades and refills globally with wiper plants on five continents . contents 1 history 2 innovations 3 controversy 4 see also 5 references history edit in 1917 the tri continental corporation was founded by john r. oishei and introduced one of the first windshield wipers known as rain rubber for the slotted two piece windshields found on many of the automobiles of the time . in the years after the creation of the first windshield wiper trico was involved in the development of vacuum powered wiper systems . trico was involved in a patent dispute with william m. folberth who with his brother fred invented a vacuum powered wiper motor in 1919 . the patent was granted in 1922 and trico later purchased the folberth company to settle the dispute . vacuum wiper motors produced by trico carry an earliest patent number that dates back to 1928 . in 1928 as trico folberth ltd trico opened a uk plant on the great west road in brentford middlesex that was situated on the so called golden mile . the site closed in the late 1990s and the company relocated its uk operations to pontypool south wales . trico also produced an air pressure powered system for heavy duty trucks and large military vehicles as well as marine applications such as chris craft and others where diesel engines were used . the air pressure system uses a trico folberth wiper motor that has patent dates cast into it that go as far back as 1922 . later versions of these motors carry patent numbers that show an earliest patent date of around 1936 . in 1998 trico then moved their head office from buffalo to rochester hills . 3 in 2002 trico closed its plant 1 in buffalo new york . this ended a nearly 20 year process of shifting its production to mexico . the building is currently being redeveloped as part of the buffalo niagara medical campus . innovations edit timeline of company innovations 4 1917 rain rubber . the first mass produced commercially available wiper blade . 1921 automatic vacuum wiper motor . 1923 crescent cleaner . 1927 visionall wiper system . two blade wiper system a four blade system was also offered where the blades wiped directly sideways . 1928 sleet wand . early attempts to fight windshield icing included this use of a rock salt type product encased in fabric and mounted on a wiper arm . 1928 five ply blades . multi edge blade that used as original equipment on nearly every motor vehicle manufactured . 1928 trico uk established . trico s uk manufacturing plant in brentford england opens . 1929 dual wipers . this innovation marked the period when wiper blades began working in unison to improve visibility . 1936 windshield washer systems . trico s two little squirts pioneered the use of windshield washer fluid to keep windshields clean . 1953 arctic winter blade . the precursor to today s premium winter blade it was encased in a flexible ice repellent hood that de iced itself as the blade wiped . 1954 four bar blades . early heavy duty wiper blades . 1956 panoramic rainbow or p r blades . the first windshield wiper blades to have an arc . a pair of spring tensioned levers pre flexed the blades to maintain constant pressure on the windshield . it was trico s most popular blade up to and through the late 1960s . 1957 trico australia . trico opens an australian manufacturing plant . 1959 vacuum rear windshield systems . 1971 wet wiper arm . 1979 tubular blades . used for the first time by original equipment manufacturers introduced to the aftermarket in 1984 . 1980 plastic framed blade . 1981 electric rear wiper system . 1993 series 2000 blades . trico s latest aerodynamic original equipment wiper blade . 1995 trico exact fit blade . first replacement wiper blade to install in seconds as the blade is pre assembled to fit the vehicle directly . 1996 global technology center established . this 81 000 square foot facility is the only one in the detroit area dedicated solely to windshield wiper technology . 1998 global 1 blade . the next generation of original equipment blades . 2000 trico teflon blade . exclusive wiping edge with teflon surface protector . 2002 beam blade . extremely low profile bracketless blade consisting only of a metal tension strip rubber element and connector . 2005 trico china established . trico manufacturing plant in suzhou china opens . 2006 direct drive motor . brushless wiper motor that drives windshield wiper arms and blades without the use of linkages . 2007 trico neoform blade . aerodynamic beam blades that fits the vast majority of vehicles on the road including those with specialty wiper arms . 2009 trico flex blade . universal beam blades with swift easy connection technology . 2010 teflon shield blade . hybrid dual shield technology with exclusive wiping edge with teflon surface protector . 2011 trico force blade . premium beam blade technology with advanced aerodynamics . 2012 trico ice blade . extreme winter weather blade . 2014 trico sentry . premium hybrid dual shield technology blade . controversy edit trico in brentford middlesex u.k. was the scene of one of the first successful strikes over equal pay for women in may 1976 . the company at the time continued to pay more to male than to female workers and the women walked out in protest gathering at the local griffin pub . trico eventually gave in after 21 weeks offering the women workers their legal equal pay . 5 this strike is now commemorated in a local folk song written by sam richards totnes devon uk . 6 its fifteen verses describe the struggle to gain legal recognition of equal pay rates . a national disgrace not just for the trico employees but most other major employers of the times . trico were the unfortunate party to be recorded by posterity in the national press for this . ironically the strike was held in the summer of 1976 this was the hottest and longest water drought for a hundred years breaking all the known heat records . this is why the right wing press attached the nickname costa del trico owing also to the irony that new fashionable booked spanish costa summer holidays at the time were actually cooler but more expensive that very hot long summer . see also edit john r. oishei trico plant no. 1 references edit trico history staff 2009 03 13 . national register information system . national register of historic places . national park service . metro business ; trico opens buffalo site . the new york times . 1999 10 20 . innovations . tricoproducts.com . retrieved 2 february 2016 . equal pay equality for women . mymultiplesclerosis.co.uk . retrieved 9 october 2013 . richards sam ; stubbs tish 1979 . english folk singer . collins . isbn 0004110684 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title trico & oldid 738230122 categories auto parts suppliers of the united statesmanufacturing companies based in michigancompanies based in oakland county michiganmultinational companies headquartered in the united states navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links 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