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A wiper generally consists of an arm, pivoting at one end and with a long rubber blade attached to the other. The blade is swung back and forth over the glass, pushing water from its surface. The speed is normally adjustable, with several continuous speeds and often one or more "intermittent" settings. Some wipers have two arms in trapezoidal fashion, so that the angle of the blade adjusts over the sweep, in order to cover the area better. It is common to have two wipers, but some vehicles have only one, and larger vehicles may have more. Mercedes-Benz pioneered a system in which a single wiper extends outward to get closer to the top corners, and pulls in at the ends and middle of the stroke.

Wipers may be powered by a variety of means, although most in existence today are electrically operated. Early wipers were often powered by manifold vacuum, but this had the drawback that manifold vacuum alters depending on throttle position and is almost non-existent under wide-open throttle; the wipers would slow down or even stop. Some cars, mostly from the 1960s and 1970s, had hydraulically driven wipers.

Most all windscreen wipers operate together with a windscreen washer; a pump that supplies water and detergent from a tank to the windscreen through small nozzles, mounted on the hood/bonnet or on the wipers.

Some automobiles have small 'windscreen' wipers/washers on the headlightsor wipers on the back window as well.

See also

• Automobile ancillary powerSeveral different methods of automobile ancillary power exist. The ultimate source of power for most of them is the automobile's main power source—normally an internal combustion engine of some kind—but some way of transferring power to the vehicle's anci
• Wiperless windshieldA wiperless windshield is a windshield which uses another mechanism than wipers to remove snow and rain from the windshield. The concept car Acura TL features a wiperless windshield using a series of jet nozzles in the cowl to blow pressurized air onto th