HISTORY OF WINDSHIELD DOCTOR

Automobile glass repair or what is generally called windshield repair is a recent innovation when compared to the history of the automobile. The technology needed to repair glass relates to the introduction of multiple layers of glass (laminated safety glass) in windshields. Laminated glass allows the windshield to remain basically intact, and for a repair to be done by removing the air in the damaged area and replacing it with a resin. Although laminated glass in automobiles dates back to the 1930's, real improvements came in the 1960's with the improved plastic inner layer of Poly Vinyl Butyral (PVB). Prior to the early 1970's when the first windshield repair process was invented, the only improvement that could be done was purely cosmetic. Typically, an oil-based fluid was poured into the area to fill the damage and to "hide" the break. It has been said that some used car dealers did this to try to sell a vehicle without installing a new windshield. It should go without saying that this was not a permanent repair.

In 1972, Origin Inc., a Research Company founded by Dr. Frank Warner in Jackson Hole, Wyoming developed a process for repairing stone damaged windshields. Dr. Warner had personally experienced stones breaking his windshield, and had directed work on a solution to repair the glass, rather than replace the entire windshield. A key member of Dr. Warner's company was Bill Wiele, a chemical engineer who developed adhesive resins that would be clear and optically match the windshield glass. Little did either of these pioneers know that within one year, Shepard Humphries would be born.

While visiting with Jackson Hole politician Bob Lenz in the summer of 2006, Shepard learned that Dr. Warner complained that the glass repair portion of his enterprises was growing too large and that when he went to work he didn't even know all his employees. This is not the Jackson Hole way so he decided to license his invention to a former associate, Gerry Keinath. Keinath had recently started a small company, Novus Inc. to market innovative products. The windshield repair industry had begun!

In 1982, Phil Marincic, a rancher from Cora Wyoming began a mobile windshield repair business serving Jackson Hole. Soon thereafter his son Ken began repairing windshields in Colorado and in 1995, Ken took over his father's Windshield Doctor, serving western Wyoming.

While companies concentrating on "repairs only service" continue to do the largest number of repairs, windshield repair has also proven itself as a viable alternative product offered by most retail service companies in auto glass. And the predictions are that repair will continue to grow as insurance companies and consumers understand the cost and product benefits. Today windshield repair is an accepted product, not only in the United States, but also within almost every country around the world.

In 2006, Ken Marincic sold Windshield Doctor to Shepard Humphries, a retired police officer. The Jackson Hole Windshield Doctor is proud to carry on the tradition of mobile windshield repair more than thirty years after its birth, right here in windshield repair's birthplace; Jackson Hole. Shepard appreciates being a part of one of the original companies providing glass repair services, but is also dedicated to staying abreast of the latest technology and techniques for repair while also following in Dr. Warner's inventive footsteps and developing products for the industry.