US1432395A - Benjamin e - Google Patents

Description

B. E. HORTON.

AUTOMOBILE HEADLIGHT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 20, I922.

Patented Oct. 17,1922.

Patented Oct. 17, 1922.

UNITED STATES BENJAMIN E. HORTON, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

I AUTOMOBILE HEADLIGHT.

Application filed February 20, 1922. Serial No. 537,924.

T 0 aZZwhom it may concern.

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN E. HORTON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automobile Headlights, of Which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in electric headlights for motor and other vehicles, andhas for its object to provide a lamp structure which includes two electric lamps, one of low and the other of high candle power, the said lights being disposed in separate compartments. A. further ob ject is to provide means for dimming one of said lights while the vehicle is being driven around the city streets or standing still. And a. further object is to provide means for preventing the glare from the high power light from blinding pedestrians and the drivers of other vehicles while approaching the headlights.

I attain these objectsby the means set forth in the detailed description which follows, and as illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which- I Figure 1 is a front face view of the headlight, to which m .improvement is applied. Fig. 2 is a central vertical section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the opaque shield. Fig. 4. is a side elevation of the same. And Fig. 5 is a hori zontal section taken substantially on line 55 of Fig. 1.

In the drawing, 2 represents the outer casing or shell in which are disposed the several parts which constitute the head-light, the forward open end of the casing being flared and partially closed by a detachable annular cap 3. 1 represents the usual circular transparent glass or lens, which is supported in side of the cap 3. 5 is the usual conical reflector which is disposed concentrically in the casing 2, its flaring open end 5 registering with thelens-covered opening in the cap 3. The rear closed end of the reflector sup ports a high-power electric lamp 6, which is suppliedavith current by wires 6'. The lamp 6 is preferably disposed in the line of the longitudinal axis of the reflector, as shown inFigs. 1,2 and 5. 7 represents a low candle power lamp, which is disposed di rectly above the lamp 6, and is supplied with current by wires 7 My improvement consists of a sheet metal 5 and 5 The upright arm 8 of the device,

hereinafter referred to as the dimmer, is preferably disposed parallel to and bears against the inner top surface of the lens, and substantially closes the forward end of the compartment. 5, as best seen in Figs 1 and 2. In order to provide for the emission of light from the lamp 7, the dimmer 8 is perforated at 8, the said perforation being in the line of the vertical axis of the reflector and lamps 6 and 7 and preferably being disposed directly in front of the lamp 7,

as best seen in Figs 1 and 2. By this construction and arrangement a portion of the light from the lamp 7 shines through the perforation 8 and serves as a pilot light when the car is standing still, and at the same time the lamp 7 performs the functions of the usual low-power or dimmed head-light.

when the vehicle is being driven about the lighted city streets. The perforation 8 is preferably formed by a shearing-die, which first stamps out a substantially disk-shaped tongue 8, and then shears the metal below said perforation for providing a relatively narrow flexible stem or neck 8 which is afterwards bent downwardly for providing an integral depending glare-stop, Whose axis corresponds to the horizontal axis of the lamp 6, as best seen in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4. The glare-stop 8, which is a permanent fixture and requires no operation is preferably disposed in the same transverse vertical plane as the dimmer 8', and being di posed directly in front of the lamp 6, prevents the dazzle or glare of the said lamp from blinding or otherwise inconveniencing persons approaching a vehicle upon which my head-lights are installed. The underside of the horizontal arm 8 is preferably silver-plated and polished and serves as a reflector, the same as the inner surface of the part 5. This horizontal reflector 8 preferably inclines upwardly slightly as it extends rearwardly, and therefore tends to direct the reflected rays of light downwardly,

intensifying the illumination of the roadway directly in front of the vehicle. The member 8 is preferably detachably applied to the lens 4, by means of integral lugs or clips S which are clinched to the opposite margins of the lens, as best seen in Figs. 2 and 5.

My entire improvement, which comprises the dimmer S, the plane reflector 8, and the glare-stop 8, is made from a single piece of sheet metal, which may be produced at slight cost, and the said improvement may be readily, quickly and conveniently in stalled in any style or make of head-lights, without requiring any alteration or change in jhe construction and arrangement of the said lights.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim, is-

1. A head-light, including a 'hollow conical reflector, a lens closing the flaring end of said reflector, an -L-shaped opaque memher, the horizontal arm of said member dividing said reflector into upper and lower compartments,the vertical arm of said member substantially closing the forward end of the uppermost compartment and having a perforation, an electric lamp disposed in the upper compartment in line with said perforation, an electric "lamp disposed in the lower compartment, and a di'slcshaped tongue depending from the vertical arm and shielding the lamp in the lowermost compartment.

2. In a head-light, an outer casing, a lens closing the open end of said casing, a 'ho] low conical reflector disposed in said casing, an opaque member having a horizontal arm which divides the interior of the reflector into upper and lower compartments and having a vertical arm for closing the forward end of the upper compartment, said vertical arm having .a circular opening, and an integral disk-shaped tongue bent downwardly for providing a pending glare-stop whose center corresponds to the longitudinal axis of the said reflector, an electric lamp of high candle power disposed in the line of said longitudinal axis, and an electric lamp of lower candle power disposed in the upper compartment and registering with said circular opening, and means for detachably securing said member to said lens.

3. A headlight,-inc'luding a hollow conical casing, a hollow conical reflector disposed in said casing, the corresponding ends of said parts being open, a lens closing the open endiof the reflector, an L-shaped opaque member'dispose'd between said lens and said reflector having a horizontal arm which divides the interior of the reflector into upper and lower compartments, and having a vertical arm disposed parallel to the lens and closing the forward end of the uppermost compartment, said vertical arm having a central perforation for the emission of a dim light, an electric lamp disposed in the upper compartment, an electric lamp disposed in the lowermost compartment substantially in the line of the longitudinal axis 'of said reflector, and a disk-shaped tongue depending from and disposed in the same plane as said vertical arm adapted to stop the glare from the lamp in the lowermost compartment.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

BENJAMIN E. HORTON.

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