Here is a question: What do Mercedes Benz wiper/washers and toothpaste tube closing top have in common? Well the answer is ‘not much, except my infatuation with them since early 70s!’ You want to know why? Well, even if you don’t, you will if you keep reading!!!
The other day, I was thinking that at least for the past 60 years, practically most cars’ wiper/washer were setup as a pair, installed on each side of the windshield, turning in harmony from right to left and back. That is practically most except for Mercedes Benz. This high end brand always made a statement with its wiper/washer (at least for the past 60 years, that is): in the 60s, its 2 instruments were installed on each side of the windshield, but they opened away from each other and closed back toward each other. Like a sort of opening arms to welcome someone and closing them to hold them. Then in the 70s, they were installed very weirdly: both on the same side very close to each other (usually on the driver’s side) and opened in harmony but in a very unusual pattern, as if trying to encompass every corner of the windshield. Then for a period they were normal like all others, but then in the very late 80s and early 90s they once again mesmerized me with their single wiper/washer installed in the middle equipped with an ‘extender’ mechanism so that it would extend mechanically as it turned to the sides. I think these days, they use a normal system, but I have not followed them as closely as before. I still don’t know why I got into this, but it kept my attention and curiosity for over 3 decades.
Now for the toothpaste tube top. Over more or less the same period, we have seen all sorts of toothpaste top designs, that in most cases followed the tube design: we saw the screw top, the pump and screw top, the clip top and a number of other ones that I do not recall very well. All are products of design excellence and functional innovation. But .......
In spite of all these efforts and innovations, to this day, the toothpaste has the same problem: no matter what you do or how careful you are, after a while toothpaste starts sticking to the tube and hardens, and very soon a big dry gunk blocks the closure of the top. And this phenomenon has kept my attention and curiosity for over 3 decades.
What is the message or the moral of this story? Well, not much except to say that depending on your perspective, point of view, and experience, any two things can be related or correlated. It’s all relative.
Paris, September 29, 2022,
Zeejay