Because early autos traveled at fairly slow speeds, little, if any, wind-breaking protection needed to be provided in the car design itself. As speeds increased, this type of protection became more important. The earliest "windshields" were nothing more than vertical sheets of plate glass in wooden frames.

The plate glass was an obvious source of injury to drivers and passengers. Hoping to strengthen and reinforce windshield glass, John C. Wood (in 1905) glued two sheets of glass together with a central layer of celluloid to create a type of laminated glass. Unfortunately, in addition to being difficult and expensive to produce, the celluloid tended to yellow over time, causing yet another safety hazard.

Work continued on laminated glass in efforts to eliminate the yellowing and to increase the ease of production. Although laminated glass could be curved to suit specific manufacturing needs, it...