Question: Which innovation for the car was developed by Prince Henry of Prussia in 1911?
Answer: Windshield wipers

Prinz Albert Wilhelm Heinrich von Preußen or Prince Henry of Prussia, Generalinspekteur der Marine (born Albert Wilhelm Heinrich, 14 August 1862 – 20 April 1929) was a younger brother of German Emperor William II and a Prince of Prussia. He was also a grandson of Queen Victoria. A career naval officer, he held various commands in the Imperial German Navy and eventually rose to the rank of Grand Admiral.

Biography

Born in Berlin, Prince Henry of Prussia was the third of eight children born to Crown Prince Frederick (later Emperor Frederick III), and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom (later Empress Victoria and in widowhood Empress Frederick), eldest daughter of the British Queen Victoria. Henry was three years younger than his brother, the future Emperor William II (born 27 January 1859).

After attending the gymnasium in Kassel, which he left in the middle grades in 1877, the 15-year-old Henry entered the Imperial Navy cadet program. His naval education included a two-year voyage around the world (1878 to 1880), the naval officer examination (Seeoffizierhauptprüfung) in October 1880, and attending the German naval academy (1884 to 1886).

Early commands

As an Imperial Prince, Henry quickly achieved command. In 1887, he commanded a torpedo boat and simultaneously the First Torpedo Boat Division; in 1888 the Imperial yacht SMY Hohenzollern; from 1889 to 1890 the second-class cruiser SMS Irene, the armored coastal defense ship SMS Beowulf, and the capital ships SMS Sachsen and SMS Wörth.

Squadron commands

From 1897, Prince Henry commanded several naval task forces; these included an improvised squadron that took part with the East Asia Squadron in consolidating and securing the German hold on the region of Kiaochow and the port of Tsingtao in 1898. The prince’s success was more of the diplomatic than the military variety; he became the first European potentate ever to be received at the Chinese imperial court. In 1899 he became officially the commander of the East Asia Squadron, later of a capital-ship squadron and in 1903 commander of the Baltic Sea naval station. From 1906 to 1909, Henry was commander of the High Seas Fleet. In 1909, he was promoted to Grand Admiral.

World War I

At the beginning of World War I, Prince Henry was named Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet. Although the means provided him were far inferior to Russia’s Baltic Fleet, he succeeded, until the 1917 Revolution, in putting Russia’s naval forces far on the defensive, and hindered them from making attacks on the German coast. After the end of hostilities with Russia, his mission was ended, and Prince Henry simply left active duty. With the war’s end and the dissolution of the monarchy in Germany, Prince Henry left the Navy.

Family

On 24 May 1888, Henry married Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, his first cousin. The marriage produced three children:

Their sons Waldemar and Heinrich were both hemophiliacs, a disease which they inherited through Irene from the maternal grandmother of both of their parents, Queen Victoria, who was a carrier.

Personality and private life

Henry had little in common with his brother, the German Emperor. He lacked, for example, William II's erratic nature and egotism. The prince was truly popular in Northern Germany, and on account of his humble and open manner was beloved by those under his command. On foreign travels, he was a good diplomat, who, unlike his brother, was able to strike the right tone. Thus, on his 1902 trip to the United States, Henry made a favorable impression with the critical American press and succeeded in winning the sympathy of more than just the numerous German-American segment of the population.

As a naval officer, Henry had a profession that completely satisfied him and that he loved. He was thoroughly a pragmatist. He received one of the first pilot’s licenses in Germany, and was judged a spirited and excellent seaman. He was dedicated to modern technology and was able to understand quickly the practical value of technical innovations. A yachting enthusiast, Prince Henry became one of the first members of the Yacht Club of Kiel, established by a group of naval officers in 1887, and quickly became the club's patron.

Henry was interested in motor cars as well and supposedly invented a windshield wiper  and, according to other sources, the car horn. In his honor, the Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt (Prince Heinrich Tour) was established in 1908, like the earlier Kaiserpreis a precursor to the German Grand Prix. Henry and his brother William gave patronage to the Kaiserlicher Automobilclub (Imperial Automobile Club).

Henry also was an early proponent of introducing submarines and airplanes. He had a steamship converted into a primitive aircraft carrier for operations in the Baltic Sea.

Henry respected his brother, but this attitude was not returned in the same measure. William kept his younger brother far from politics, although Henry served as his representative as long as the Crown Prince was still in his minority. Henry complied with this, for he did not interest himself in either politics or grand strategy. He did not recognize what political effect the German naval build-up would entail, and also would not have been in the position to move his brother toward a different policy.

After the German Revolution, Henry lived with his family in Hemmelmark near Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein. He continued with motor sports and sailing and even in old age was a very successful participant in regattas. He popularized the Prinz-Heinrich-Mütze ("Prince Henry cap"), which is still worn, especially by older sailors.

In 1899, Henry received an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Engineering honoris causa) from the Technical University of Berlin. Also in foreign countries he received numerous similar honors, including an honorary doctorate (LL.D.) from Harvard University in March 1902, during his visit to the United States.

Prince Henry died of throat cancer, as his father had, in Hemmelmark on 20 April 1929. 

George Burroughs Torrey painted a portrait of him.

Naval career and advancement

* Unterleutnant zur See, 14 August 1872; Basic Training and Naval Academy 1877-1878
* Leutnant zur See, 18 October 1881; Training Cruises and Naval Academy 1878-1882
* Kapitänleutnant, 18 October 1884; Executive Officer, Armored Cruiser SMS Oldenburg, 1886
* Korvettenkapitän, 18 October 1887; Commander, 1st Torpedo Boat Division, 1887; Commander, Imperial Yacht SMY Hohenzollern, 1888
* Kapitän zur See, 27 Januar 1889; ; Commander, Cruiser SMS Irene, 1889–1890; Commander, Armored Coastal Defense Ship SMS Beowulf, 1892; Commander, Armored Cruiser SMS Sachsen, 1892–1894; Commander, Armored Ship of the Line SMS Wörth, 1894–1895
* Konteradmiral, 15 September 1895; Commander, 2nd Division, 1st Battle Squadron, 1896–1897; Commander, 2nd Division, Cruiser Squadron, 1897–1899
* Vizeadmiral, 5 December 1899; Commander, Cruiser Squadron, 1899–1900; Commander, 1st Battle Squadron, 1900–1903
* Admiral, 13 September 1901; Commanding Admiral, Baltic Sea Naval Command, 1903–1906, Commander, High Seas Fleet, 1906–1909
* Großadmiral, 4 September 1909; Inspector General of the Imperial Navy, 1909–1918; Commander-in-Chief, Baltic Fleet, 1914–1918

Regimental commissions and honorary ranks

German

* 1. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß (Royal Prussian 1st Regiment of Foot Guards) – Leutnant (Second Lieutenant) through Generaloberst im Range eines Generalfeldmarschalls (Colonel-General in the Rank of Field Marshal), 1871 - 1918 
* Kgl. Sächs. 2. Grenadier-Regiment Kaiser Wilhelm, König von Preußen Nr. 101 (Royal Saxon 2nd Grenadier Regiment)
* Kgl. Bayerisches Artillerie-Regiment Nr. 8 (Royal Bavarian 8th Artillery Regiment) – Generaloberst im Range eines Generalfeldmarschalls and Chef (Colonel in Chief) 
* 1. Großherzogl. Hessisches Feldartilleree-Regiment 25 (Grand Duchy of Hesse 2nd Artillery Regiment)
* Fußilier-Regiment “Prinz Heinrich von Preußen” (Brandenburgisches) Nr 35 (The Brandenburg Fusilier Regiment) - Generaloberst im Range eines Generalfeldmarschalls and Chef (Colonel in Chief) 

Foreign

* Austria-Hungary K.u.K. Infantry Regiment Nr. 20 – Oberstinhaber (Colonel in Chief)
* Austria-Hungary K.u.K. Kriegsmarine (Navy) – Vizeadmiral (vice admiral)
** Austria-Hungary K.u.K. Kriegsmarine - Konteradmiral (rear-admiral) 1899 
* British Royal Navy – Admiral (Honorary) 13 September 1901
** British Royal Navy - Vice-Admiral (Honorary) 5 February 1901. 
* Russian Imperial Dragoon Regiment Nr. 33 – Colonel
Korean Empire: Order of the Gold cheok(대훈위금척대수장， 大勳位金尺大綬章,1904)

Titles, styles, and honours 

Titles

*14 Aug 1862 – 20 April 1929 – His Royal Highness Prince Henry of Prussia

Prussian

* Order of the Black Eagle, Knight, 1872
* Order of the Red Eagle, Knight Grand Cross, 1872 (by statute of the Order of the Black Eagle, for princes of Prussia)
* Prussian Crown Order, Knight First Class, 1872 (by statute of the Order of the Black Eagle, for princes of Prussia)
* Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Grand Commander with collar chain
* Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight First Class
* Johanniterorden (Order of St. John, Bailiwick of Brandenburg)

Non-Prussian German

* Order of Albert the Bear (Anhalt), Knight Grand Cross
* House Order of Fidelity (Baden), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of Berthold I (Baden), Knight Grand Cross
* Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion (Baden)
* Order of St. Hubert (Bavaria), Knight
* Order of Henry the Lion (Brunswick), Knight First Class
* House Order of the Golden Lion (Hesse-Kassel), Knight
* Ludwig Order (Hesse-Darmstadt), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of the Wendish Crown (Mecklenburg), Knight Grand Cross, with Crown and Diamonds
* House Merit Order of Peter Friedrich Ludwig (Oldenburg), Knight Grand Cross with Golden Crown
* Order of the Rue Crown (Saxony), Knight
* Order of the White Falcon (Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach), Knight Grand Cross
* Saxe-Ernestine House Order (Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg & Gotha, and Saxe-Meiningen), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of the Württemberg Crown (Württemberg), Knight Grand Cross

Foreign

* Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen (Austria-Hungary), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of Leopold (Belgium), Grand Cordon
* Order of Christ's Cross (Brazil), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of the Double Dragon (China), 1st Grade II Class
* Order of the Elephant (Denmark), Knight
* Order of the Redeemer (Greece), Knight Grand Cross
* Royal Order of Kalākaua I (Kingdom of Hawaii), Knight Grand Cross, 1881
* Order of the Annunciation (Italy), Knight
* Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus (Italy), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of St. Joseph (Italian Grand Duchy of Tuscany), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of the Chrysanthemum (Japan), Grand Cordon
* Order of the Gold cheok(Korean Empire),
Grand Cordon
* Order of the Netherlands Lion (Netherlands), Knight Grand Cross
* Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav (Norway), Knight Grand Cross
* Military Order of Christ (Portugal), Grand Cross
* Order of the Tower and Sword (Portugal), Grand Cross
* Order of the Star of Romania (Romania), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of St. Andrew the First Called (Russia), Knight
* Order of the White Eagle (Serbia), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of the Golden Fleece (Spain), Knight
* Order of Naval Merit (Spain), Knight Fourth Class (Grand Cross)
* Order of Seraphim (Sweden), Knight
* Order of Osmanie (Ottoman Turkey), Knight Grand Cross
* Order of the Garter (United Kingdom), Knight (expelled in 1915)
* Order of the Bath (United Kingdom), Knight Grand Cross (civil)
* Royal Victorian Chain (UK) - 1902
* Supreme Order of Christ (Vatican), Knight
* Order of the Liberator Simon Bolivar (Venezuela), Collar

Honorary degrees and offices

* Freedom of the City of New York, 25 February 1902, during his visit to the city. 
*Freedom of the City of Philadelphia, 10 March 1902, during his visit to the city. 
* Honorary doctorate (LL.D.) from Harvard University, 6 March 1902.

Ancestry

Motoring Firsts - The National Motor Museum Trust
The National Motor Museum Trust
Home > Story of Motoring > Motoring Firsts
Motoring Firsts
Among the questions we are most frequently asked are the various motoring firsts. Listed below are some of the most common questions that have been answered by our Motoring Research Service.
Questions
What were the first motor cars?
The motor car was developed over many years by a number of talented individuals but Karl Benz of Mannheim in Germany is normally credited as the Inventor of the Motor Car. In the autumn of 1885, his three-wheeled vehicle became the first successful petrol-engined car. He was awarded a patent for it on 29 January 1886, and became the first motor manufacturer in 1888 with his Modell 3 Benz. In 1886, Gottlieb Daimler and his protégé Wilhelm Maybach built the first successful four-wheeled petrol-driven car at Bad Cannstatt. The Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft was established four years later in 1890. On 1 July 1926 Benz and Daimler merged to become Daimler-Benz AG and its products Mercedes-Benz. Fredrick William Bremer, a plumber and gas fitter, built the first British four-wheeled petrol-engined motor car. Starting work in 1892, when he was 20, the still incomplete car made its first run on a public highway in December 1894.
What was the first motor car to run on the British Highway?
There are a number of claims and counter claims for the first motor car to appear on the road in Britain. Frederick William Bremer of Walthamstow is believed to have had a four-wheeled car running in late 1894. Both he and James D. Roots may have independently built motorised tricycles as early as 1892. Roots certainly had one powered by an oil engine running on the road in early 1896.
Another theory is that the first motor car to run on the British highway was a 2hp Benz Velo imported by Henry Hewetson in November 1894, although some believe this may have actually been in 1895. The Hon. Evelyn Ellis certainly imported a Panhard et Levassor into Britain in June 1895.
By the end of 1895, following further importations, it was estimated that there were 14 or 15 cars on Britain’s roads, a figure which had increased dramatically by 1900 to approximately seven or eight hundred! The million mark for private cars was reached in Britain in 1930, with 10 million in 1967.
John Henry Knight of Farnham, Surrey was an engineer and enthusiastic inventor with a keen interest in photography and locomotion. With the help of engineer George Parfitt, in 1895 he created the first purpose-built, petrol-driven, three-wheeled car to be run on the roads of Britain. In order to improve stability a fourth wheel was added the following year. This pioneering British car is on display at the National Motor Museum.
Cycle makers Charles and Walter Santler of Malvern Link, Worcestershire built a steam car in 1889 which was subsequently fitted with a single cylinder gas engine and then rebuilt again with a single cylinder ‘petrol’ engine in 1894. Santlers went on to build several other cars between 1897 and 1913 when they launched a range of light cars for general sale.
Frederick Lanchester started work on a four-wheeled petrol car in 1895 which was successfully tested on the road in early 1896. The Lanchester Engine Co. commenced building production cars in 1899.
When was the word petrol first used?
The term petrol was not used until 1896, when it was patented by Messrs Carless, Capel & Leonard of Hackney Wick.
When were windscreen wipers first used?
There are various claims for the first windscreen wipers. Some sources say that they were first used in France in 1907. British photographer Gladstone Adams is said to have had the idea for wipers whilst driving his Daracq home to Newcastle after watching the 1908 FA Cup Final at Crystal Palace (his team Newcastle United had lost 3 – 1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers). He patented his design in 1911.  Various motoring magazine pictures show Prince Henry of Prussia in a car with simple up and down squeegee type wiper fitted to the windscreen in 1909. In 1919 (some sources say 1921) William Folberth of Cleveland, USA, marketed the first automatic windscreen wipers. They were operated by vacuum from the engine's inlet manifold.
Where was the first motor museum?
Britain’s first dedicated motor museum was set up by Edmund Dangerfield, Editor of The Motor magazine. Temporarily sited in Oxford Street, London, it opened on 31 May 1912 with over forty vehicles built before 1903 and a range of accessories. The exhibition closed on 31 July 1912 and reopened on 12 March 1914 at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham. The collection remained there until the British Government commandeered the building during World War I, when exhibits were returned to owners, taken in by Government Museums, or dumped on waste ground near Charing Cross Station. This has been described as 'one of the untold tragedies of the war'. In 1931 the remaining unplaced vehicles from the 1912 Motor Museum were destroyed. In 1972 five of the saved cars from the original 1912 Museum were displayed at the newly opened National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.
Who was the first person to be charged for a speeding offence?
Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent had the dubious honour of being the first person in Great Britain to be successfully charged with speeding on 28 January 1896. Travelling at approximately 8mph/12.87kph, he had exceeded the 2mph/3.22kph speed limit for towns. Fined one shilling and costs, Arnold had been caught by a policeman who had given chase on a bicycle.
When was the first driving licence issued?
France introduced the first driving licences under the Paris Police Ordinance of 14 August 1893. The Motor Car Act of 14 August 1903, which took effect on 1 January 1904, introduced the driving licence (along with registration numbers for vehicles and a new speed limit of 20mph/32.19kph) into Great Britain.
When were the first driving lessons given?
The Motor Carriage Supply Company of London, their instructor being one Mr Hankinson, offered the first driving lessons in Britain in June 1900.   The first organisation to title itself a driving school in Britain was the Liver Motor Car Depot and School of Automobilism of Birkenhead.  William Lee established the school in May 1901 and its Chief Instructor was Archibald Ford.
When were the first driving tests introduced?
France, under the Paris Police Ordinance of 14 August 1893, introduced the first driving test. Introduced on a voluntary basis, on 13 March 1935, the driving test did not become official in Great Britain until 1 April 1935 and compulsory until 1 June 1935. The first driving test pass certificate in Great Britain was awarded on the 16 March 1935 to Mr R.E.L. Beere of Kensington.
When was the first Highway Code published?
First published in booklet form in Great Britain in April 1931, it cost one penny.
When did the first motoring fatality occur?
Mrs Bridget Driscoll of Old Town, Croydon became the first motoring fatality on 17 August 1896, when she was run over by a Roger-Benz car at Crystal Palace, London. Employed by the Anglo-French Motor Co, Arthur Edsell was driving at 4mph/6.44kph when he hit Mrs Driscoll, fracturing her skull in the process. The first driver to die from injuries sustained in a motoring accident was Mr Henry Lindfield of Brighton when his electrical carriage overturned on Saturday 12 February 1898. He died of shock the following day, caused by the amputation of one of his legs. According to the 19 February 1898 copy of Autocar, he had only driven the car two or three times and the accident was probably ‘due to the fact of the speed being so high’ – 16 or 17mph (25–27kph) – ‘a pretty high speed for a novice to maintain.’ The first crash to cause the death of a car passenger occurred on 25 February 1899 at Grove Hill, Harrow. Major James Stanley Richer, 63, died four days after the accident without regaining consciousness. The driver, Mr E.R. Sewell had been demonstrating the vehicle, a Daimler Wagonette, to Major Richer, Department Head at the Army & Navy Stores, with the view to a possible purchase for the company. Mr Sewell was killed on the spot, becoming the first driver of a petrol-driven car to die in an accident.
When were the first traffic lights installed?
The first traffic signals in Britain (and indeed the world) were installed outside the Houses of Parliament on 10 December 1868. They used contemporary railway signalling technology – semaphore arms for day-time use and green or red gas lamps at night. Unfortunately they exploded on the night of 2 January 1869 injuring the police constable operating them! The first electric stop-go traffic lights were installed in Cleveland, Ohio in August 1914, with the first three-colour traffic lights in Detroit in 1919. 1922 saw the first electrically synchronised traffic signals installed in Houston, Texas. In Great Britain, manually operated three-colour traffic lights were first used in Piccadilly, London in 1926, with automatic traffic lights making their first appearance on an experimental basis in Princes Square, Wolverhampton, during November 1927. The experiment was presumably a success and the lights became permanent in 1930. Pedestrian-operated street crossing lights were first erected on the Brighton Road, Croydon, Surrey in 1932.
Where were the first parking meters installed?
Oklahoma City, USA was the site for the world’s first parking meter, where it was installed in July 1935. An invention of Gerald A. Hale and Professor H.G. Thuesen of Oklahoma State University, the first person to be arrested for a parking meter offence was the Reverend C.H. North of the Third Pentecostal Church of Oklahoma City in August 1935. Britain’s first parking meters made their appearance outside the American Embassy in London’s Grosvenor Square on 10 July 1958.
When did the first roadside petrol pumps appear?
The first roadside petrol pumps became operational in St Louis, USA in 1905. Roadside petrol pumps were first installed in Britain in 1913, though they did not enter into general use until 1921. In 1920 the Automobile Association opened the first roadside petrol station (solely for the purpose of supplying fuel as opposed to being a garage) at Aldermaston, Berkshire. A number of similar stations were established around the country. They were operated by AA Patrolmen and exclusively for the use of AA members. They established the modern pattern of vehicles pulling off the public road and drawing up alongside petrol pumps rather than being filled at the kerbside as at garages. Britain’s first self-service petrol pump became operational in November 1961 at Southwark Bridge, London.