GB2105024A - Rear-lamp arrangement for a motor vehicle - Google Patents

Rear-lamp arrangement for a motor vehicle Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2105024A
GB2105024A GB08218975A GB8218975A GB2105024A GB 2105024 A GB2105024 A GB 2105024A GB 08218975 A GB08218975 A GB 08218975A GB 8218975 A GB8218975 A GB 8218975A GB 2105024 A GB2105024 A GB 2105024A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
light
brake
lights
day
fog
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Granted
Application number
GB08218975A
Other versions
GB2105024B (en
Inventor
Heinz Dick
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Ford Motor Co
Original Assignee
Ford Motor Co
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Ford Motor Co filed Critical Ford Motor Co
Publication of GB2105024A publication Critical patent/GB2105024A/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of GB2105024B publication Critical patent/GB2105024B/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60Q—ARRANGEMENT OF SIGNALLING OR LIGHTING DEVICES, THE MOUNTING OR SUPPORTING THEREOF OR CIRCUITS THEREFOR, FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60Q1/00—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor
    • B60Q1/26—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic
    • B60Q1/2607—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic comprising at least two indicating lamps
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B60—VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60Q—ARRANGEMENT OF SIGNALLING OR LIGHTING DEVICES, THE MOUNTING OR SUPPORTING THEREOF OR CIRCUITS THEREFOR, FOR VEHICLES IN GENERAL
    • B60Q1/00—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor
    • B60Q1/26—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic
    • B60Q1/30—Arrangement of optical signalling or lighting devices, the mounting or supporting thereof or circuits therefor the devices being primarily intended to indicate the vehicle, or parts thereof, or to give signals, to other traffic for indicating rear of vehicle, e.g. by means of reflecting surfaces
    • B60Q1/303—Rear fog lamps

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Lighting Device Outwards From Vehicle And Optical Signal (AREA)

Abstract

In a rear-lamp arrangement for a motor vehicle, day-level brake lights are incorporated in the rear light clusters and night-level brake lights are provided in separate additional brake light units. The lights may be connected via appropriate circuitry in such a way that, in the night position, the day-level brake lights can assume the function of rear fog lights and/or fog brake lights.

Description

SPECIFICATION Rear light arrangement The invention relates to a motor vehicle rearlight arrangement.
A rear light cluster containing an integrated rear fog light is known from German Offenlegungsschrift 1,911,163. It is also known to provide in addition to such a cluster brake light units mounted higher than the cluster, and these have recently been fitted to an increasing extent.
Such a combination has the disadvantage that the additional brake lights are of essentially the same power as the brake light in the cluster resulting in increased dazzling of following traffic in darkness and in a line of traffic. Another disadvantage is that the conventional signal pattern of the motor vehicle is changed as a result of the change from two to four brake lights.
The rear fog light in the known arrangement is integrated in the tail-lamp section of the cluster and is obtained by using a twofilament bulb. This is disadvantageous because under certain circumstances due to tolerances in the filement bulbs there is not sufficient differentiation between the tail light and rear fog light.
A still further disadvantage of such a combination is that, to ensure differentiation between the rear fog light and the brake light, a distance of 100 mm must be maintained between these two sections of the rear light cluster. On narrow vehicles and especially on estate cars, this entails an extremely undesirable restriction of the areas available for the various lamp functions.
The invention seeks to mitigate at least some of the foregoing disadvantages.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a rear light arrangement for a motor vehicle comprising rear light clusters incorporating brake-lights of relatively high intensity for use in day time and separate light units incorporating brake-lights of relatively low intensity for use at night and mounted on the vehicle in spaced relation to the rear light clusters.
Preferably one or both of the daylight brake-lights incorporated in the rear light clusters can be switched on to act as rear fog lights. If only one day-level brake light is switched on to act as a fog light, the other daylight brake-light may be connected to act as an additional fog brake light.
If desired provision can be made to switch on the day-level brake light automatically, even in the night position, as soon as hazardwarning flasher unit is switched on.
The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which shows diagrammatically a rear light arrangement according to the invention.
The rear-light arrangement provided at the back of a motor vehicle consists of two clusters, 1 and two additional brake light units 2 set high in relation to these.
A direction indicator section 3, a tail-light section 4, a day-level brake-light section/rear fog light section 5 and a reversing-light section 6 are provided in each of the clusters.
Only a night-level brake-light section 7 is provided in each of the additional brake light units 2.
The direction-indicator, tail-light and reversing-light sections are conventional, and their construstion need not therefore need not be described in detail.
Filament bulbs for day-light brake lights with a light intensity of 1 50 to 300 cd are arranged in the light sections 5, while filament bulbs for a night-level brake light with a light intensity of 30 to 80 cd are arranged in the additional brake light units 2.
In this case, the normal circuit arrangement of the two-level system for the brake light is that, when the motor-vehicle side-lights or headlights are switched on, the day-level brake light is switched over to the night-level brake light. That is to say that in the night position of the light switch, the additional light units are energised when the brakes are applied instead of the brake lights in the rear light clusters. This may be achieved by the use of an electronic or electromagnetic relay.
Since a light intensity of 1 50 to 300 cd is sufficient for a rear fog light, the separate arrangement of the brake-lights for day-level and night-level enables the use as a rear fog light 8 of the day-level brake-light sections 5 which are not used otherwisew in the night positio of the light switch. In this case, only one fog tail light, for example on the righthand side, or two fog tail lights can be switched on, depending on legal regulations.
If only one day level brake-light is used as rear fog light the remaining day-level brakelight can appropriately be used to provide an additional fog brake-light 9 which is switched on whenever the weather conditions make it seem advisable to switch on the rear fog lights.
By appropriate circuitry, it can be envisaged that, whenever the traffic situatiion so requires, for example when there is a danger of a pile-up and rear-end collision, the day-level brake lights may always be switched on, even in the night position, by switching on the hazard warning lights.
1. A rear light arrangement for a motor vehicle comprising rear light clusters incorporating brake-lights of relatively high intensity for use in day time and separate light units incorporating brake-lights of relatively low intensity for use at night and mounted on the
**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (6)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. SPECIFICATION Rear light arrangement The invention relates to a motor vehicle rearlight arrangement. A rear light cluster containing an integrated rear fog light is known from German Offenlegungsschrift 1,911,163. It is also known to provide in addition to such a cluster brake light units mounted higher than the cluster, and these have recently been fitted to an increasing extent. Such a combination has the disadvantage that the additional brake lights are of essentially the same power as the brake light in the cluster resulting in increased dazzling of following traffic in darkness and in a line of traffic. Another disadvantage is that the conventional signal pattern of the motor vehicle is changed as a result of the change from two to four brake lights. The rear fog light in the known arrangement is integrated in the tail-lamp section of the cluster and is obtained by using a twofilament bulb. This is disadvantageous because under certain circumstances due to tolerances in the filement bulbs there is not sufficient differentiation between the tail light and rear fog light. A still further disadvantage of such a combination is that, to ensure differentiation between the rear fog light and the brake light, a distance of 100 mm must be maintained between these two sections of the rear light cluster. On narrow vehicles and especially on estate cars, this entails an extremely undesirable restriction of the areas available for the various lamp functions. The invention seeks to mitigate at least some of the foregoing disadvantages. In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a rear light arrangement for a motor vehicle comprising rear light clusters incorporating brake-lights of relatively high intensity for use in day time and separate light units incorporating brake-lights of relatively low intensity for use at night and mounted on the vehicle in spaced relation to the rear light clusters. Preferably one or both of the daylight brake-lights incorporated in the rear light clusters can be switched on to act as rear fog lights. If only one day-level brake light is switched on to act as a fog light, the other daylight brake-light may be connected to act as an additional fog brake light. If desired provision can be made to switch on the day-level brake light automatically, even in the night position, as soon as hazardwarning flasher unit is switched on. The invention will now be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which shows diagrammatically a rear light arrangement according to the invention. The rear-light arrangement provided at the back of a motor vehicle consists of two clusters, 1 and two additional brake light units 2 set high in relation to these. A direction indicator section 3, a tail-light section 4, a day-level brake-light section/rear fog light section 5 and a reversing-light section 6 are provided in each of the clusters. Only a night-level brake-light section 7 is provided in each of the additional brake light units 2. The direction-indicator, tail-light and reversing-light sections are conventional, and their construstion need not therefore need not be described in detail. Filament bulbs for day-light brake lights with a light intensity of 1 50 to 300 cd are arranged in the light sections 5, while filament bulbs for a night-level brake light with a light intensity of 30 to 80 cd are arranged in the additional brake light units 2. In this case, the normal circuit arrangement of the two-level system for the brake light is that, when the motor-vehicle side-lights or headlights are switched on, the day-level brake light is switched over to the night-level brake light. That is to say that in the night position of the light switch, the additional light units are energised when the brakes are applied instead of the brake lights in the rear light clusters. This may be achieved by the use of an electronic or electromagnetic relay. Since a light intensity of 1 50 to 300 cd is sufficient for a rear fog light, the separate arrangement of the brake-lights for day-level and night-level enables the use as a rear fog light 8 of the day-level brake-light sections 5 which are not used otherwisew in the night positio of the light switch. In this case, only one fog tail light, for example on the righthand side, or two fog tail lights can be switched on, depending on legal regulations. If only one day level brake-light is used as rear fog light the remaining day-level brakelight can appropriately be used to provide an additional fog brake-light 9 which is switched on whenever the weather conditions make it seem advisable to switch on the rear fog lights. By appropriate circuitry, it can be envisaged that, whenever the traffic situatiion so requires, for example when there is a danger of a pile-up and rear-end collision, the day-level brake lights may always be switched on, even in the night position, by switching on the hazard warning lights. CLAIMS
1. A rear light arrangement for a motor vehicle comprising rear light clusters incorporating brake-lights of relatively high intensity for use in day time and separate light units incorporating brake-lights of relatively low intensity for use at night and mounted on the vehicle in spaced relation to the rear light clusters.
2. A rear light arrangement as claimed in claim 1, wherein the separate brake-light units are mounted above the rear light clusters.
3. A rear light arrangement as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one of the daylevel brake lights is connected in such a manner as to be capable of being switched on to act as a rear fog light when not used as a brake-light.
4. A rear lamp arrangement as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein at least one day-level brake light is connected to be energised in the event of a hazard warning flasher unit in the vehicle being switched on.
5. A rear lamp arrangement as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein one of the day-level brake lights is connected to act as a rear fog light when not in use as a brake-light and the other day-level brake-light is connected to act as a rear brake light in the event of fog.
6. A rear lamp arrangement substantially as herein before described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.
GB08218975A 1981-07-03 1982-07-01 Rear-lamp arrangement for a motor vehicle Expired GB2105024B (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DE3126281 1981-07-03

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB2105024A true GB2105024A (en) 1983-03-16
GB2105024B GB2105024B (en) 1984-08-22

Family

ID=6136031

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB08218975A Expired GB2105024B (en) 1981-07-03 1982-07-01 Rear-lamp arrangement for a motor vehicle

Country Status (2)

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FR (1) FR2509014B1 (en)
GB (1) GB2105024B (en)

Family Cites Families (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE2627842C3 (en) * 1976-06-22 1981-06-25 Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, 8000 München Multi-chamber rear light for vehicles
FR2420083A1 (en) * 1978-03-13 1979-10-12 Citroen Sa Rear lamp support frame for vehicle - has array of mounting saddles between partition walls, and is snap fit in vehicle body

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
FR2509014A1 (en) 1983-01-07
FR2509014B1 (en) 1985-06-21
GB2105024B (en) 1984-08-22

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PCNP Patent ceased through non-payment of renewal fee