GB2148546A

GB2148546A - Concealed type head lamp device

Info

Publication number: GB2148546A
Application number: GB08426230A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hichiro Osaki; Kazumi Hayashi; Takeo Orihara
Original assignee: Toyota Motor Corp; Toyota Jidosha Kogyo KK
Current assignee: Toyota Motor Corp
Priority date: 1980-10-27
Filing date: 1984-10-17
Publication date: 1985-05-30
Also published as: DE3142554A1; GB2148546B; DE3142554C2; GB8426230D0

Abstract

A vehicle body has headlamps (15, 16) capable of being exposed to and concealed therefrom, said headlamps being driven by means of respective driving motors (M1, M2) and a manual switching device (22) is provided which is capable of driving a light switch (T6) for turning on and off the headlamps and a retractor switch (19, 20) for turning on and off the respective driving motor. In the present construction, a temperature sensitive switch (25) is provided in parallel with the switching device so as to expose the headlamps when the ambient temperatures drop below a predetermined level and before they become frozen in their concealed position. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Concealed type head lamp device The present invention relates to a concealed type head lamp device.

Concealed type head lamps provided on a vehicle are concealed in the vehicle body when they are turned off or unlighted and driven so as to be exposed from the body by means of a driving motor when they are turned on. For concealed type head lamp devices of this type it is necessary to drive and control the head lamps and to control the turning on and off of the head lamps. To meet such a function, there has been proposed in the past a device wherein a single operating lever is used to perform a driving control and lighting control of the head lamps.

However, such prior art device has a construction such that if the head lamps are driven to the concealed position by a single control operation when the head lamps are exposed and turned on, the head lamps are concealed while they are not completely turned off. In a case where the head lamps are moved to the concealed position such that the projected surface thereof is moved from a forward direction to an upward direction relative to the vehicle, there is a disadvantage in that a dazzling beam is projected against a facing vehicle by an optical locus of the head lamps.

A further disadvantage is that the head lamps remain turned on either when they are left in the exposed position in order to overcome the possibility of the head lamps not being operable when required due to freezing of head lamp portions preventing movement of the head lamps to the exposed position or when they are left exposed for other reasons, for example, during car-washing.

In order to overcome these disadvantages as noted above, there has been proposed a device which is provided with an operating lever capable of controlling the turning-on and turning-off of the head lamps and an operating lever capable of controlling driving of the head lamps independently of the function of the first-mentioned operating lever. However, in such a device, even though, the disadvantages encountered in the first-mentioned device may be overcome, the control of the turning on and off, and the driving of the head lamps is not carried out by means of a single operating lever, and is therefore less convenient to operate.

According to the invention there is provided an operating switch integrally comprising a lamp switch for controlling the turning on and off of the lamps and a head lamp driving switch for changing over the head lamps to the concealed state or the exposed state, said operating switch being driven by means of a driving motor according to the operation of the operating switch representative of the specific state according to the control content and the drive content of the head lamps.

The present invention further provides a delay circuit for driving the head lamps to be concealed after a predetermined period of time upon the changeover of the operating switch to a mode which brings the head lamps into a turn on and concealed state or upon termination of a passing operation.

According to the feature of the invention, there may be provided a temperature sensitive switch for measuring an ambient temperature of a vehicle whereby the head lamps are driven to be exposed when the ambient temperature is below a set level.

An advantage of the present invention is that it provides a concealed type head lamp device which can independently control the turning on and off, and the driving of the head lamps by operation of a single operating lever.

Another advantage of the present invention is that it makes it possible to provide a concealed type head lamp device which can positively turn off the head lamps when the latter are moved from the exposed state to the concealed state.

A further advantage of the present invention is that it makes it possible to provide a concealed type head lamp device which can positively turn on the head lamps when the latter are moved from the concealed state to the exposed state.

An advantage of a preferred feature of the present invention is that it makes it possible to provide a concealed type head lamp device which can automatically move the head lamps to their exposed position before the latter are frozen.

A further advantage of the present invention is that it makes it possible to provide a concealed type head lamp device which can effect a passing operation by the mere operation of a single control lever.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals denote like elements and in which: Figure 1 is a circuit diagram showing an embodiment of a concealed type head lamp device in accordance with the present invention; and Figure 2 is a sectional view showing a principal portion of a driving motor shown in Fig. 1.

An embodiment of a concealed type head lamp device in accordance with the present invention will now be described in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram of a concealed type head lamp device according to the present invention. Referring now to Fig. 1, fusible links 2, 3 and a fuse 4 are connected to a battery 1 The fusible link 2 is connected to a tail lamp relay 5 and a head lamp relay 6.

The fusible link 3 is connected to brake relays 8, 9 of a light retractor relay 7. The fuse 4 is connected to a light retractor control relay circuit 10. A contact T5 of the tail lamp relay 5 is connected to a plurality of tail lamps 1 2 in the form of a small lamp such as a side lamp through a plurality of fuses 11. A nor mally open contact T6 of the head lamp relay 6 is connected to a dimmer relay 1 3. A contact Tu of the dimmer relay 1 3 is connected, through fuses 14a and 14b, to highbeam lamps 1 5u and 1 6u of head lamps 1 5 and 16, which are located on left and right sides at the front of a vehicle, driven to be concealed or exposed by means of a driving motor.Contact TI is connected, through fuses 1 4c and 1 4d, to low-beam lamps 1 51 and 161 of the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6. The lamps 1 5u, 1 51 and 1 6u, 1 61 are respectively connected to contacts Tl 7a, T1 8a of light switches 17, 1 8 housed in the driving motor, which will be described later. Contacts T1 7b and T1 8b normally in contact with conductive sliding plates 1 7s and 1 8s driven by the driving motor are grounded. The contacts T1 7a and T1 8a are respectively in contact with insulating portions 1 7i and 1 8i as viewed in Fig. 1. The brake relays 8 and 9 for controlling the rotation of the driving motor have contacts T8c and T9c as a common contact.The contact T8c is connected to a driving motor M1 by which the head lamp 1 5 is driven to be concealed or exposed, whereas the contact T9c is connected to a driving motor M2 by which the head lamp 1 6 is driven to be concealed or exposed. An exciting coil L8 of the relay 8 and an exciting coil L9 of the relay 9 are respectively connected to contacts Tl 9c and T20c as a common contact of retractor switches 1 9 and 20 housed in the driving motors M1 and M2.

Contacts T8a and T9a of the relays 8 and 9 are respectively connected to the exciting coils L8 and L9, contacts T8b and T9b thereof being grounded. Insulating portions 1 9i and 20i of the retractor switches 1 9 and 20 are rotated half (180 ) with sliding plates 1 9s and 20s by one operation of the retractor motors M1 and M2. The sliding plates 17s and 18s, which are provided one the light switches 1 7 and 18, respectively, housed in the motor devices, are also driven and rotated half by means of the driving motors Ml and M2.

Down contact Tl 9d and T20d provided on the retractor switches 1 9 and 20 are respectively connected to anodes of diodes D1 and D2. Cathodes of the diodes D1 and D2 are connected in common and then connected to a normally closed contact T21 of a relay 21 within the light retractor control relay circuit 10. Further, output of the normally closed contact T21 is connected to a contact "OFF" of a lighting switch 22. "U P" contacts T19u and T20u provided on the retractor switches 1 9 and 20, respectively, are connected to anodes of diodes D3 and D4.Cathodes of the diodes D3 and D4 are connected in common and then connected to the "U P" contacts of the lighting switch 22 and connected to the light retractor control relay circuit 10. Contact "T" of the lighting switch 22 is connected to the exciting coil L5 of the tail lamp relay 5, and contact "H" thereof is connected to the exciting coil L6 of the head lamp relay 6, a diode D5 of the light retractor control relay circuit 10, and a contact "HF1" of a dimmer switch 23. The lighting switch 22 is designed so that when a lighting operating lever not shown is switched to positions indicated in order of "OFF", "UP", "T" and "H", a contact tongue T22c with the lighting switch 22 grounded thereto comes into contact therewith every two contacts.That is, when the lighting operating lever is switched to the position "OFF", the contact tongue T22c comes into contact with the contact "OFF" and contact "E", which is a dead contact, and when the operating lever is rotated one step, the contact "E" comes into contact with the contact "UP". In this manner, when the lighting operating lever is switched to "T", the contact "UP" comes into contact with the contact T", and when the lighting operating lever switched to "H", the contact "T" comes into contact "H". When the operating lever is switched to the position "H", the contact tongue T,22c comes into contact with the contact "UP", contact "T", and the contact "T", contact "H".

The dimmer switch 23 is designed so that when a dimmer operating lever not shown is switched to positions indicated as the "H U", "HL", "HF", "HF2", and "HF1", a grounded contact tongue T23c comes into contact with the contact "H U", contact 'HL", contact HF1", and "HF2", respectively, corresponding to the aforesaid positions. The contacts "HU" and "HF2" are connected to the exciting coil L1 3 of the dimmer relay 1 3.

The light retractor control relay circuit 10 comprises a first switch circuit having a function to provide an interruption between the contact "UP" of the lighting switch 22 and a grounded point, a second switch circuit for controlling an exciting coil L21 of the relay 21 and peripheral circuits. The first switch circuit comprises a transistor Tr1 and a bias circuit, said bias circuit comprising a transistor Tr3, resistors R3 and R4. The second switch circuit comprises a transistor Tr2 connected to the exciting coil 21 and a bias circuit. The bias circuit comprises resistors R1 and R2 and a transistor Tr3. When the transistor Tr3 is energized, the resistors R1 and R3 are applied with a voltage. A base of the transistor Tr3 is connected to a power supply through a capacitor C1 and connected to a power supply through a series circuit which comprises a resistor R5 and a capacitor C3. A node between the resistor R5 and the capacitor C3 is connected to the contact "HF1" of the dimmer switch 23 through a resistor R6 and the diode D5.

In the light retractor control relay circuit 10, when the lighting switch 22 is at the contact "H" or when the operating lever in the dimmer switch 23 is at the contact "HF", the cathode of the diode D5 is grounded and a bias voltage is applied to the base of the transistor Tr3 by the resistors R5, R6 and capacitors C1, C3, as a consequence of which the transistor Tr3 is turned ON. As a result, a bias voltage is applied to the transistors Tr1 and Tr2 by the resistors R1, R2, R3 and R4, and therefore the transistors Tr1 and Tr2 are turned ON. When the transistor Tr2 is turned ON, the relay 21 is driven to open the contact T21.When the diode D5 is ungrounded, the transistor Tr3 remains in its ON condition for a predetermined period of time (about 2 to 4 seconds) by charged charges in the capacitors C1 and C3, and thus, the contact T21 of the relay 21 is closed after a lapse of a predetermined period.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing a principal portion of a driving motor shown in Fig.

1, showing the retractor switch portion and with the head lamp being exposed. Since the driving motor M1 has the same construction as that of the driving motor M2, the driving motor M1 alone will be described in Fig. 2.

Parts in Fig. 2 which are like or corresponding to those shown in Fig. 1 bear like reference characters.

In Fig. 2, a gear portion 30 provided on the driving motor M1 is provided with a sliding plate 1 9s and a sliding plate 1 7s, which rotate integral with a gear 31. The gear 31 is a gear having a fixed ratio of reduction with respect to the gear for driving the head lamps 15, 16, which gear is rotated halfway when the head lamps 15, 1 6 are drived to be concealed or exposed by the driving motor M1.The sliding plate 1 9s is provided with an insulating portion 1 9i, and a contact Tl 9c, a down contact Tl 9d and an up contact T1 9u are arranged so as to come into contact with the sliding plate 1 9s or the insulating portion 19i. A contact Tl 7b is arranged so as to come into contact with the sliding plate 1 7s at all times, and a contact T1 7a is arranged so as to come into contact with the sliding plate 1 7s or the insulating portion 1 71. Noncontact sides of the above-described contacts are fixed by means of insulating members not shown.

The operation will now be described. First, in Fig. 1, there comprises two loop circuits; a first loop circuit comprising the battery 1, fusible link 3, coils L8 and L9 of the brake relays 8 and 9, contacts Tl 9c and T20c of the retractor switches 1 9 and 20, down contacts T19d and T20d, diodes D1 and D2, contact T21, contact "OFF" and earth, and a second loop circuit comprising the battery 1, fusible link 3, coils L8 and L9 of the brake relays 8 and 9, contacts Tl 9c and T20c of the retractor switches 1 9 and 20, up contacts T1 9u and T20u, diodes D3 and D4, contact UP and earth.However, when the lighting operating lever is at "OFF", the dimmer operating lever is at the position "HL" and the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6 are concealed, the down contacts Tl 9d and T20d are in contact with the insulating portions 1 9i and 20i, and therefore, the first loop circuit is cut off, and the contact "UP" is open and therefore the second loop is also cut off. In this condition, since the driving motors M1 and M2 are not actuated, the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6 remain concealed. Also, since the circuits for the tail lamp 12 and the head lamps 15, 1 6 are cut off, the tail lamp 1 2 and the head lamps 15, 1 6 are unlighted.

Next, when the lighting operating lever is switched to the "UP" position, the contact UP is grounded and accordingly, the second loop circuit is energized. Thus, the brake relays 8 and 9 are actuated, and the contacts T8c and T9c are switched towards the contacts T8a and T9a. Therefore, the driving motors M1 and M2 start and the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6 are exposed in a 0.6 seconds or so.At the same time, the sliding plates 1 9s and 20s and the sliding plates 1 7s and l-8s are rotated halfway to cause the insulating portions 1 9i and 20i to come into contact with the up contacts T1 9u and T20u, respectively, and to cause the sliding plates 1 7s and 1 8s to come into contact with the contact To 7a and Tl 8a, respectively. When the up contacts T1 9u and T20u come into contact with the insulating portions 1 9i and 20i, respectively, the aforementioned second loop circuit is deenergized so that the contacts T8c and T9c are switched towards the contacts T8b and T9, respectively, whereby the driving motors M1 and M2 stop their operation.

Incidentally, the sliding plates 1 7s and 1 8s are in contact with the contacts T1 7a and Tl 8a, respectively, but in this condition, the head lamp relay 6 is not actuated and thus the head lamps 15 and 16 remain unlighted.

Also, since the tail lamp relay 5 is not actuated, the tail lamp 1 2 remains unlighted.

Next, when the lighting operating lever is switched to the "T" position, the contact "UP" and the contact "T" are grounded. This actuates the tail lamp relay 5 to light the tail lamp 1 2. Since the head lamp relay 6 is not actuated in this condition, the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6 remain unlighted. Also, since the contact "OFF" is open and the up contacts Tl 9u and T20u are in contact with the insulating portions 1 9i and 20i, respectively, the first and second loop circuits remain deenergized. Thus, the driving motors M1 and M2 remain stopped.

Then, when the lighting operating lever is switched to the "H" position, the contact T and the contact H are grounded whereby the head lamp relay 6 is actuated to light the lowbeam lamps 1 51 and 161 of the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6. The tail lamp 1 2 remains lighted.

At this time, when the dimmer operating lever is switched to the "H U" position, the contact HU is grounded whereby the dimmer relay 1 3 is actuated to light the high-beam lamps 1 5u and 1 6u of the head lamps 15 and 16. When the dimmer operating lever is alternately switched to the "HL" and "HF" positions, the high-beam lamps 1 5u and 1 6u and the low-beam lamps 1 51 and 1 61 flicker alternately according to the switching operation.

Since the first and second loop circuits are in a state of deenergization, the driving motors M1 and M2 remain stopped. At this time, since the cathode of the diode D5 in the light retractor control relay circuit 10 is grounded, a base bias is applied to the transistor Tr3 and the transistor Tr3 is then turned ON whereby a base bias is applied to the transistors Trl and Tr2, which are then turned ON. When the transistor Tr2 is turned ON, the relay 21 is actuated to open the contact T2 1. The contact T21 is in an open state while the lighting operating lever assumes the "H" position and is returned to its closed state in a predetermined period of time after the lighting operating lever has been released from the "H" position.When the lighting operating lever is returned to the "T" position, the contact H is opened and the contact ''T'' and the contact "UP" are grounded whereby the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6 are turned off.

Next, when the lighting operating lever is returned to the "UP" position, the contact "T" is open and the contact "UP" is grounded, as a consequence of which the tail lamp 1 2 is turned off. Even if the contact "UP" is grounded, the up contacts Tl 9u and T20u are in contact with the insulating portions 1 9i and 20i and therefore, the second loop circuit is in a state of deenergization and thus the driving motors M1 and M2 are not actuated.

When the lighting operating lever is returned to the "OFF" position, the contact "UP" is open and the contact "OFF" is grounded. As a consequence, the first loop circuit becomes energized and the driving motors M1 and M2 start to conceal the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6. At the same time, the sliding plates 1 9s, 20s and the sliding plates 1 7s, 1 8s are rotated halfway to cause the insulating portions 1 9i and 20i to come into contact with the down contacts Tl 9d and T20d and to cause the contacts To 7a and To 8a to come into contact with the insulating portions 1 7i and 1 81. As a consequence, the first loop circuit becomes deenergized and thus the driving motors M1 and M2 stop.

Then, when the lighting operating lever is at the "OFF" position, the dimmer operating lever may be switched momentarily from the "HL" position to the "HF" position to cause passing of the head lamps 1 5 and 16. That is, when the dimmer operating lever is switched to the "HF" position, both the contacts HF1 and HF2 are grounded, and therefore, the cathode of the diode D5 of the light retractor control relay circuit 10 is grounded to turn on the transistors Trl, Tr2 and Tr3.

Since the cathodes of the diodes D3 and D4 are grounded by turning on of the transistor Trl, the same condition as that when the lighting operating lever is switched from the "OFF" position to the "UP" position whereby the driving motors M1 and M2 start to expose the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6. At this time, the contacts HF1 and HF2 are grounded and thus the head lamp relay 6 and the dimmer relay 1 3 are actuated to turn on the head lamps 15u and 16u. When the driving motors M1 and M2 are actuated, the contacts T19c, T20 and the down contacts Tl 9d, T20d become energized, but when the transistor Tr2 is turned ON, the relay 21 is actuated whereby the contact T21 becomes open.Accordingly, the first loop circuit becomes deenergized to stop driving of the driving motors M1 and M2. Even after the dimmer operating lever is returned to the "HL" position to open the contacts HF1 and HF2, the transistor Tr3 remains in its ON state for a predetermined period of time (about 2 to 4 seconds) by the charged charges in the capacitors C1 and C3.

Therefore, if the dimmer operating lever is reciprocatively switched from the "HL" position to the "HF" position during said period of time, the head lamp relay 6 and the dimmer relay 1 3 are simultaneously turned ON and OFF according to such an operation to alternately flicker the high-beam lamps 1 5u and 1 6u of the head lamps 15 and 16.

In a predetermined period of time (about 2 to 4 seconds) after termination of the final passing operation by the dimmer operating lever (the contacts HF1 and HF2 are open), the transistors Trl, Tr2 and Tr3 are turned OFF whereby the relay 21 stops its operation to close the contact T21. This assumes the same condition as that when the lighting operating lever is switched from the "UP" position to the "OFF" position and the retractor motors M1 and M2 start to conceal the head lamps 15 and 16, after which the driving motors M1 and M2 are stopped.

Even if the lighting operating lever is returned at one stroke from the "H" position to the ' "OFF" position, the contact T21 of the relay 21 does not close unless a predetermined of time has passed, and therefore, the driving motors M1 and M2 are driven after the head lamps 15, 1 6 and the tail lamp 1 2 are turned off and the residual lights of the head lamps 1 5 and 16 are extinguished, whereby the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6 are concelaed.

Next, in a state where the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6 are concealed with the lighting operating lever switched to the "OFF" position, a contact T24c of an antifreezing hand switch 24 is switched towards a contact T24b. In this condition, when an ambient temperature of the vehicle is below a set level of a temperature sensitive switch 25, the contact of the temperature sensitive switch 25 is closed and accordingly, the second loop circuit becomes energized and the lighting operating lever assumes the same condition as that when the latter is switched to the "UP" position whereby the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6 are driven to be exposed.At this time, the contacts To 7a and Tri 8a of the light switches 1 7 and 18 are in contact with the sliding plates 1 7s and 1 8s and therefore, if the lighting operating lever is moved to the "H" position, the head lamps 1 5 and 1 6 may be lighter.

After the head lamps have been exposed automatically, all the circuits are in a state of deenergization and therefore, the battery is never wasted.

It should be understood that the present embodiment may also be applied to an arrangement wherein the retractor motor is normally or reversely rotated or to an arrangement wherein a cover for covering the head lamp body is driven by the retractor motor.

As described above, in accordance with the concealed type head lamp device of the present invention, a single operating lever may be operated to perform the operation of turning on and off, concealing and exposing, and passing of the head lamps, and even if the head lamps are switched at one stroke from the turn-on state to the turn-off state and vice versa, a dazzling beam is not given out towards the facing vehicle. In addition, even if the head lamps are left concealed, the head lamps may be exposed automatically before being frozen. Moreover, when an attempt is made to turn on the head lamps, the head lamps may be exposed because the lever goes through the "UP" position, but it does not come to nothing. Conversely, if the lever is switched to the "H" position, the head lamps are instantly turned on and illuminated. Further, even if the head lamps are temporarily turned off, the head lamps remain exposed unless the lever is returned to the "OFF" position and accordingly, the lamps can be turned on again instantly. Thus, where the head lamps are left exposed, for example, during car-washing, the head lamps can still be maintained in their off state.

It should be apparent to one skilled in the art that the abovedescribed embodiments are merely illustrative of but a few of many possible specific embodiments of the present invention. Numerous and varied other arrangements can be readily devised by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A concealed type head lamp device comprising head lamps installed on a vehicle body; a lighting switch adapted to turn on and off said head lamps according to the operating position thereof; a head lamp driving means for bringing said head lamps into their exposed state when the operating position of said lighting switch is at a position to turn on said head lamps and bringing said head lamps into their concealed state when the operating position is at a position to turn off the head lamps; and a delay circuit for controlling said head lamp driving means so that said head lamps may assume their concealed state after a predetermined period of time upon a return of the operation of said lighting switch to the turn-off position.

2. A concealed type head lamp device according to Claim 1, wherein said lighting switch has a first state for placing the head lamps in turn-off and concealed state, a second state for placing said head lamps in turnoff and exposed state, and a third state for placing said head lamps in turn-on and exposed state.

3. A concealed type head lamp device according to claim 1 or claim 2 comprising a temperature sensitive switch which is turned on when an ambient temperature of the vehicle is below a set level, said head lamp driving means being controlled so that said head lamps are exposed when said switch is turned on.

4. A concealed type head lamp device according to any preceding claim wherein said lighting switch includes a contact for turning on a tail lamp.

5. A concealed type head lamp device according to any preceding claims wherein said head lamp driving means comprises a motor controlled by operation of said lighting switch; a retractor switch driven by said motor and adapted to turn on and off said motor; and a light switch driven by said motor and adapted to place said head lamps in a state capable of turning on and off thereof at a predetermined position of rotational angle.

6. A concealed type head lamp device according to claim 5, wherein said retractor switch comprises a first switch circuit connected to said lighting switch; and a second switch circuit connected to said delay circuit.

7. A concealed type head lamp device according to claim 5 or claim 6 wherein said motor is driven is synchronism with energisation of said retractor switch.

8. A concealed type head lamp device comprising head lamps installed on a vehicle body; a passing switch adapted to turn on said head lamps only at the time of operation; a head lamp driving means for bringing said head lamps into their exposed state when the operating position of said passing switch is at a position to turn on said head lamps and bringing said head lamps into their concealed state when the operating position is at a position to turn off the head lamps; and a delay circuit for controlling said head lamp driving means so that said head lamps may assume their concealed state after a predetermined period of time upon a return of the operation of said passing switch to the turn-off position.

9. A concealed type head lamp device according to Claim 8, wherein said passing switch is integral with a dimmer switch.

10. A concealed type head lamp device according claim 8 or claim 9, wherein said head lamp driving means comprises a motor controlled by operation of said passing switch; a retractor switch driven by said motor and adapted to turn on and off said motor; and a light switch driven by said motor and adapted to place said head lamps in a state capable of turning on and off thereof at a predetermined position of rotational angle.

11. A concealed type head lamp device according to any of claims 8 to 10, comprising a temperature sensitive switch which is turned on when an ambient temperature of the vehicle is below a set level, said head lamp driving means being controlled so that said head lamps may be exposed when said switch is turned on.

1 2. A concealed type head lamp device according to any of claims 8 to 11, wherein said retractor switch may assume an energisable state when said passing switch is turned on.

1 3. A concealed type head lamp device according to any of claims 10 to 12, wherein said motor is driven in synchronism with energisation of said retractor switch.

14. A concealed type head lamp device as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7 incorporating a concealed type head lamp device as claimed in any of claims 8 to 13.

1 5. A concealed type head lamp device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.

16. A vehicle having a concealed type head lamp device as claimed in any preceding claim.