Son of Flash

‘Flash of Genius’ inventor’s son visits campus

By LAYLA ASLANI, DMG Writer

HOUGHTON - The son of the inventor depicted in the movie "Flash of Genius" spoke at Michigan Technological University Tuesday afternoon about the movie and his dad's real David vs. Goliath legal battles against the automobile industry.

Dennis Kearns said the late Robert Kearns, his father and Wayne State University professor, invented the intermittent windshield wiper in his basement, only to have the patented wiper stolen by the Ford Motor Company and others without compensation. Kearns said he was impressed with how well the movie told his father's story.

"The movie came out really well," he said. "It shows a little friction between my dad and I, but that was just Hollywood."

Dennis said although actor Greg Kinnear never met his father, he did an accurate job portraying him in the film.

"His wardrobe, everything looked like it came out of my dad's closet," he said.

The origins of the invention date back to his parents' 1953 wedding night when a champagne cork hit his father's face, leaving him blind in one eye and curious about the way the eye worked, Dennis said.

"My dad was a great believer that God did a great job designing human beings," he said. "That was always what he was trying to copy."

Years later, Robert modeled his wipers' swipe and stop pattern after the way the eye blinked, Dennis said. Robert and a partner in the parts industry put the product on a black Lincoln and brought it to Ford, Dennis said.

"He really didn't want to just sell his idea," he said. "He wanted to be in there building and creating an industry."

Robert worked with Ford for six months to show the model could be adapted for the company's vehicles and meet government safety standards, Dennis said. Eventually, the auto giant said it was going to develop something else and then came out with a similar concept two years later, he said.

Dennis said he bought a windshield wiper component in 1976 from Mercedes-Benz, which Robert took apart and discovered, "(they) had stolen his design and copied it piece by piece."

Robert then disappeared. He was found by police in Tennessee four days later, Dennis said.

"He had a total nervous breakdown," he said. "In that four days, his hair changed from the color red I always knew my dad to have, to snow white."

The family brought Robert back to Michigan and placed him in a mental hospital. This breakdown was the inspiration for lawsuits against several automobile companies, Dennis said. He explained the family thought getting Robert's idea back would help him get his mind back, because "stealing his idea took his mind away."

"We saw it as part of his therapy," he said.

Dennis said they won all five trials they had and although they reached settlements with Ford and Chrysler for millions of dollars, the legal fees they had took most of the money.

"We didn't make a whole lot of money off it," he said. "My dad and I ended up doing the last lawsuit by ourselves."

The other lawsuits never made it to court, Dennis said.

"The judge was pretty fed up with us," he said, explaining that the judge threw out the other cases after his family became overwhelmed with paperwork and missed several deadlines. "Forty or 50 (opposing lawyers) would dump a bunch of paper on us and give us 30 days to respond."

Dennis said he hopes his father's lawsuits changed the way the automobile industry and other industries operate for the benefit of others.

After the talk, Tech senior Sean McIntosh said he was impressed how honest Dennis was while telling his father's story.

"I like how he didn't beat around the bush a lot, he didn't hold back," he said.

The Pic Theatre will have a special showing of the movie "Flash of Genius" tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $3 each.

Layla Aslani can be reached at laslani@mininggazette.com.