How ready are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your dreams in 2020??
How much is your dream or vision worth to you??
Here this story......
It was a rainy Sunday afternoon in August 1965. Robert had closed from church and was about to go home with his wife and four children. He had developed several designs for automatic wipers he wanted to design and install in his car. So this particular rainy day, he wanted to get home early so bad so he could finally put his designs to the test.
They finally managed to get home after long hours in the rain and heavy traffic. Drivers at the time operated their wipers by turning a small knob close to the steering wheel continuously to clear the windscreen of rain, water or fog or just anything that prevented them from seeing the road clear as they drive.
So Robert was really determined to do something to solve this problem. So just after lunch, he went straight to his basement with his three sons so they could plan and build the new wiper design together. After 6 hours of testing and failing many times using an acquarium, they finally managed to fix the wipers to automatically swing side by side on its own without any human hands.
With so much excitement, he called his childhood best friend, Carl Westerman, who at the time worked with Diamler Chrysler in Detroit. Carl rushed over to his friend's house to see for himself the invention that his friend has just made.
Together, they went down to the basement and Robert showed his friend the automatic swinging wipers moving side by side in the aquarium by itself without any human hands.
Carl was really amazed and convinced his friend to stop by his office early Monday morning which was the next day so he can introduce him and his invention to the Chrysler company so they can earn big money from this amazing invention.
After Robert had done his presentation before the Diamler Chrysler board, they offered to pay him a 1 million dollar check, which is estimated to be about a billion dollars today, so they can own the full patent (rights) to his invention. Which meant Robert will not be given the credit or ownership of his own invention if he accepts the money or the deal the car manufacturing company was offering him. But Robert refused and walked away from the meeting room very sad because he had wanted them to allow him to have the rights to his own invention and supervise its installations on their new cars yet to be introduced into the market.
With a sad face, he went home and told his wife about what had happened and the huge sums of money he had refused from them.
His wife and children suddenly got really mad and furious with him for not accepting such an offer, as it was a great opportunity that will change our lives forever.
But this my "idiot" husband refused and now we are stuck here in our miserable life again. His wife said.
But all Robert ever wanted was his name on his own invention not money. His wife and Carl his best friend tried for several weeks and months to convince him to take the offer but he refused each time.
So his wife, left him and took their young kids with her. He begged his wife to stay and promised they will be rich someday from this invention but his wife insisted they will only stay with him if he accepts the 1 million dollars offer from Chrysler. But Robert even in this difficult time, still said no to his wife.
He knew his invention was worth more than the one million dollars Chrysler was offering him.
One night after he came home from his chemistry class at the Detroit State University, he turned on the TV to watch the evening news, and then he heard that Chrysler had introduced new automatic wipers to their latest cars. Sad and angry, he immediately realised his best friend, Carl had sold his invention to his company and had showed them all his paperwork and designs.
He had been betrayed and let down by his best friend who he thought he could trust him with his secret invention and paperwork drawings. He decided to sue Diamler Chrysler in court for the original patent name to the wiper. Meaning he was suing the car company, Diamler Chrysler to have his own name to the wiper as its inventor and not the car company.
He lost his case against Chrysler everytime he went to court. This continued for 10 years but Robert was still determined to fight for his patent back. In 1976, a young female journalist who had just started in her journalism profession heard about Robert's case and took an interest in the case to help him fight for his patent back. She wrote an article about the life of Robert W. Kearns and his automatic wipers and suddenly everybody in the state of Michigan knew about Robert. Not only that, the woman also took the case to his father, who was a judge at the Detroit Justice court to study the case to see if Robert had a justification to present his case to the United States Supreme Court.
The judge and his journalist daughter studied the case very well and filed for Robert to sue Diamler Chrysler company at the US supreme court. So in August 1986, the case of Robert W. Kearns Vs. Diamler Chrysler Manufacturing Company was heard. It was broadcasted live on National TV. Robert as he had done always represented himself and argued passionately with the big shot lawyers from Chrysler. After each had presented their case, the jurors and the sitting judge finally gave their verdict and found Diamler Chrysler guilty of patent fraud.
Not only that, The supreme court instructed Chrysler to pay for all his legal fees,all those 21 years of going to court back and forth and to have his name inducted into the American Patent Association as the original inventor of the automatic wipers. This means if his automatic wiper is installed in any car around the world, Robert gets a large percentage of the money too.
Robert W. Kearns was now more than a billionaire. But above all he got his greatest wish granted. Which was to have his name inducted into the American Patent Association as the inventor of the automatic wipers.
Robert W. Kearns died in 2005. But he had fought for 21 years before he could see his dream come true. His wife and children left him, his best friend betrayed him and everything seemed to be working against him. But he continued to stick by his dream with faith and perseverance.
So, the next time you're driving and you turn on your on your automatic wipers to clear the rain off your windscreen, remember the persevering spirit of Robert W. Kearns.
And honour his brave memory.
Just remember, nothing comes easy when you want to go on this journey of success.
Kwame Sarpong | Freelance Writer :
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