Trico is an American company that specializes in windshield wipers. Trico, then known as Tri-Continental Corporation, invented the windshield wiper blade in 1917. Its original Trico Plant No. 1 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Trico is today one of the leading manufacturers of windshield wiping systems, windshield wiper blades and refills globally, with wiper plants on five continents.
History
In 1917, the Tri-Continental Corporation was founded by John R. Oishei in Buffalo, New York 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. In 2002, Trico closed its original manufacturing facility, known as "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 into apartments and a hotel, with completion expected by the end of 2018.
Innovations
Timeline of company innovations:
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 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.
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.
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. This strike is now commemorated in a local folk song, written by Sam Richards, Totnes, Devon, UK. 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".
