Flash of Michigan Genius USA (wgvu) - TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) - Robert Kearns waged an obsessive
fight against the auto industry, which he accused of stealing his
invention - the intermittent windshield wiper.
Now, a Hollywood film is telling his story.
The movie is called "Flash of Genius," and it was screened
recently at the Traverse City Film Festival. It will open in
theaters in mid-October.
Greg Kinnear stars as Kearns, a one-time engineering instructor
at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Kearns invented a design for the intermittent wiper and tried
unsuccessfully to reach a deal with Ford Motor Company to
manufacture them. He later sued Ford and other companies for patent
infringement.
He eventually won more than $30 million from Ford and Chrysler,
but never realized his dream of becoming a wiper manufacturer.
Kearns died in 2005.
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