GB2273555A

GB2273555A - Headlight for vehicles

Info

Publication number: GB2273555A
Application number: GB9324076A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Albrecht Duerr; Hans-Joachim Schmidt
Original assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Current assignee: Robert Bosch GmbH
Priority date: 1992-12-19
Filing date: 1993-11-23
Publication date: 1994-06-22
Anticipated expiration: 2013-11-23
Also published as: DE4243174C2; GB2273555B; GB9324076D0; DE4243174A1

Description

Headlight for vehicles

Prior Art

The invention is based on a headlight for vehicles according to the generic type of Claim 1.

Such a headlight is disclosed in DE-Cl 39 39 710. This headlight has a reflector, a lens which is arranged at a distance f rom the latter in the direction of the light and a shutter arrangement which is arranged between the said lens and the reflector. The shutter arrangement consists of a fixed shutter and an additional adjustable shutter. The additional shutter can be adjusted between two limit positions and is provided with an actuation element. Between the additional shutter and the shutteri a compression spring is clamped, which spring acts on the additional shutter in each case towards its limit position. On the additional shutter, a pin is arranged which engages in a slot in the shutter, the limit positions of the additional shutter being determined by the pin coming to rest against the edge at the end of the slot. The actuation element of the additional shutter is constructed as a tongue which protrudes away from the latter and on which a lever which is pivotably mounted on the reflector engages. The lever is of two-armed construction, the one arm of which engages on the tongue and the other arm of which protrudes towards the rear of the reflector. For the purpose of adjusting the additional shutter. one arm of the actuation lever is accessible f rom the rear of the headlight. The edge of the fixed shutter forms a light/dark boundary of the light beam emerging from the headlight. In one limit position, the R. 25790 edge of the additional shutter is arranged underneath the edge of the fixed shutter and thus does not influence the light beam. In its other limit position, the edge of the additional shutter projects, in sections, over the edge of the fixed shutter and forms, in sections, the light/dark boundary of the light beam emerging from the headlight. The adjustability of the additional shutter, which is necessary for use of the headlight for righthand and left-hand driving, requires in this process a large degree of expenditure since additional parts, such as for example the compression spring and the two-armed actuation lever with its bearing, are required for this. By means of these additional parts, the fitting of the headlight also becomes costly, which should be avoided for the sake of economical manufacture of the headlight.

Advantages of the invention In contrast. the headlight according to the invention, having the features of Claim 1, has the advantage'that the production and fitting of the headlight are simplified since, thanks to its integral design with the additional shutter. the sprung element does not require any additional component.

Advantageous embodiments and developments of the headlight are disclosed in the dependent claims. By means of the design disclosed in Claim 2, the two limit positions of the additional shutter are determined by the actuation lever coming to rest against the stops so that no additional parts are required for this. With the features according to Claim 4, secure locking of the actuation lever is achieved. By virtue of the bentaround end region of the actuation lever, disclosed in Claim 5, the elastic deformability of the said lever is ensured and, furthermore, the said lever is accessible from the rear of the headlight. The ramp disclosed in Claim 7 permits simple adjustability of the additional shutter from one limit position into the other, in which case the actuation lever only needs to be rotated.

- 3 R. 25790 Drawing An exemplary embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawing and explained in greater detail in the subsequent description. Figure 1 shows a headlight in a vertical longitudinal section, Figure 2 shows the headlight in a transverse section along the line IIII in Figure 1, and Figure 3 shows a view of an additional shutter from the direction of the arrow III in Figure 1.

Description of the exemplary embodiment.

A headlight, illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, for vehicles, in particular motor vehicles, has a reflector 10 which is of ellipsoidal design and has an optical axis 11. In the apex region of the reflector 10, a light source 14, which can be a filament lamp or a gas discharge lamp, is inserted into an opening 13. In the direction 16 of the light at a distance f rom the f ront edge 17 of the re flector 10, a lens 19 which is held in a carrier 20 connected to the reflector 10 is arranged. In the region of the front edge 17 of the reflector 10, a shutter arrangement 22, which consists of a fixed shutter 23 and an additional adjustable shutter 25 is provided in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis 11. The reflector 10 can be arranged, together with the further components, in a housing 26 which has a front opening which is closed with a glass 28. At the rear, the housing 26 has an opening 29 which can be closed by means of a cap 31.

At the front edge 17 of the reflector 10 which consists of sheet metal, a flange 32 is bent around radially outwards, to which flange 32 the carrier 20 and the fixed shutter 23 are attached. The reflector 10 can consist of plastic, the flange 32 then being formed onto it. The attachment of the shutter 23 can be effected via in each case two screws 34 in the upper region and in the lower region of the reflector 10. The shutter 23 has an upper edge 35 which forms a light/dark boundary of thelight beam emerging from the headlight. The edge 35 has here a section 35a which extends approximately horizontally and forms the light/dark boundary on the nearside of the vehicle, and a section 35b which is inclined downwards from the section 35a and forms the light/dark boundary on the offside of the vehicle. The light beam emerging from the headlight thus has a horizontal light/dark boundary on the rearside and a light/dark boundary which rises towards the edge of the carriageway on the offside.

The additional shutter 25 is arranged on the side of the shutter 23 facing the-lens 19 and can be pivoted, with respect to the shutter 23. about an axis 37 which extends approximately parallel to the optical axis 11. The additional shutter 25 can be connected for example via a rivet 38 to the shutter 23 and be rotated on the rivet 38. The axis 37 is arranged offset with respect to the optical axis 11. The shutter 23 has in its lower region a shoulder 40 which points in the direction 16 of the light. The additional shutter 25 has a main region 41 which extends parallel to the shutter 23 in the plane lying perpendicular to the optical axis 11 and on which an upper shutter edge 43 is formed. From the main region 41. as illustrated in Figure 3, a sprung arm 45 is formed in the direction 16 of the light by bending around, which sprung arm 45 has a downwardly pointing curvature and which is arranged in a plane approximately perpendicular to the optical axis 11. The sprung arm 45 rests with its curved region on the shoulder 40 of the shutter 23 and is elastically deformable.

On the additional shutter 25. as illustrated in Figure 3, an actuation element is also arranged in the form of an actuation lever 46 which projects beyond the edge of the reflector 10 in a radial fashion. The actuation lever 46 is bent around out of the main region 41 of the additional shutter 25 initially in the direction 16 of the light pointing approximately at right angles and is subsequently bent back again into the original R. 25790 direction so that a central section 48 runs axially offset to the main region 41. In its end region 49, the actuation lever 46 is bent around pointing counter to the direction 16 of the light. its end 51 being once more bent around such that it runs again parallel to the main region 41 but counter to the direction 16 of the light offset with respect to the main region 41.

The reflector 10 has in its flange 32 an opening 52 for the end region 49 and the end 51 of the actuation lever 46 to pass through, through which opening 52 they pass counter to the direction 16 of the light. An upper edge region 54 of the opening 52 forme here a stop for the end region 49 of the actuation lever 46. At the end region, pointing towards the optical axis 11, of the opening 52, a locking edge 55 is formed which points away from the edge region 54 which forms the stop and itself forms a second stop for the end region 49 of the actuation lever 46. A ramp 57 which rises towards the locking edge is constructed towards the edge region 54 on the opening edge next to the locking edge 55. In the end 51 of the actuation lever 46, an opening 58 is cut out which serves as a receptacle for a tool for adjusting the actuation lever 46. For example a screwdriver with its blade can be inserted into the opening 58 as a tool.

In a first limit position of the additional shutter 25, which is illustrated in Figure 2 with unbroken lines, the edge region 49 of the actuation lever 46 rests against the upper edge region 54 of the opening 52, against which the latter is pressed by the sprung arm 45 which is supported on the shoulder 40 of the fixed shutter 23. The pressing force, brought about by the sprung arm 45. of the end region 46 must not be too large here. In this first limit position of the additional shutter 25, its edge 43 is arranged underneath the inclined edge section 35b of the shutter 23 and thus does not influence the light beam emerging from the headlight.

This first limit position includes the additional shutter 25 if the shutter 23 is configured for right-hand driving and the vehicle equipped with the headlights is used in right-hand traffic. The same applies if the shutter 23 is configured for left-hand driving and the vehicle is used in left-hand traffic.

In order to adjust the additional shutter 25, for example the blade of a screwdriver is inserted into the opening 58 and by means of this the actuation lever 46 is pressed downwards. In this process. the additional shutter 25 is pivoted about the axis 37 and the end region 49 of the actuation lever 46 slides. experiencing elastic deformation. onto the ramp 57 and locks at the end of the ramp on the locking edge 55 approximately radially inwards towards the optical axis 11. During the adjustment of the additional.shutter 25. its sprung arm 45 is deformed elastically and, in this process. increases its restoring force exerted on the additional shutter 25. By means of the restoring force of the sprung arm 45. the end region 49 of the actuation lever 46 is held in contact against the locking edge 55 and by means of the force resulting from the elastic deformation of the end region 49, the end region 49 is held approximately radially towards the optical axis 11 in contact against the inner edge region of the opening 52 in the flange 32 of the reflector. The adjustment of the additional shutter 25 is limited by the edge region 49 coming to rest against the lower edge 60 of the opening 52 so that the said opening 52 cannot be accidentally adjusted too far. In this second limit position of the additional shutter 25, which is illustrated in Figure 2 by broken lines, the edge 43 of the additional shutter 25 projects beyond the inclined edge section 35b of the fixed shutter 23 and is arranged approximately horizontally. In this limit position of the additional shutter 25, overall a continuous horizontal shutter edge is thus formed which consists of an edge section 35a and the shutter edge 43. The light beam emerging from the headlight therefore has a continuous horizontal light/dark boundary in this limit position of the additional shutter 25. This second limit position includes the additional shutter 25 if the fixed shutter 23 is configured for right-hand driving but the vehicle equipped with the headlights is being temporarily used in left-hand traffic. The same applies if the shutter 23 is configured for left-hand driving and the vehicle is temporarily being used in right-hand traffic.

In order to adjust the additional shutter 25 back into its first limit position, the edge region 49 of the actuation lever 46 is pressed approximately radially outwards by means of the screwdriver so that the latter is no longer locked on the locking edge 55. By means of the restoring force of the sprung arm 45, the additional shutter 25 is automatically pivoted back into its first limit position and the edge region 49 comes to rest again on the upper opening edge 54. instead of on the f ixed shutter 23. the sprung arm 45 can also be supported on another fixed part, opposite the additional shutter 25, of the headlight. for example on the reflector 10 or on the carrier 20 holding the lens 19. Furthermore, the stops which determine the two limit positions of the additional shutter 25 and are formed in the exemplary embodiment described above by the opening edge 54 and the locking edge 55 can also be f ormed in another way and arranged on another fixed part of the headlight, such as for example the fixed shutter 23 or the carrier 20. Thus, these stops do not need to be f ormed on the edge of an opening but rather can be constructed on an edge region of one of the parts mentioned above.

8 R. 25790

Claims

1. Headlight for vehicles. having a reflector (10)r a lens (19) which is arranged at a distance in the direction (16) of the light from the latter and a shutter arrangement (22) which is arranged between the said lens (19) and the reflector (10) and consists of a fixed shutter (23) and an additional adjustable shutter (25), the additional shutter (25) being adjustable between two limit positions, having an actuation element (46) and being loaded towards a limit position by means of a sprung element (45) and producing in one limit position a light/dark boundary of the light beam emerging from the headlight, characterized in that the sprung element is constructed integrally with the additional shutter (25) as a sprung arm (45) which protrudes away from the latter and is supported on a part (10; 20; 23),. fixed with respect to the additional shutter (25) r of the headlight.

2. Headlight according to Claim 1, characterized in that the actuation element is an actuation lever (46) which protrudes away from the additional shutter (25) and comes to rest on a part (10; 20; 23), fixed with respect to the additional shutter (25), of the headlight in the. two limit positions of the additional shutter (25) against in each case one stop (54; 55), against which stop the said lever is held by the sprung arm (45).

3. Headlight according to Claim 2, characterized in that at least one stop is formed by a locking edge (55) on which the actuation lever (46) can be locked.

4. Headlight according to Claim 3, characterized in that the actuation lever (46) locks on the locking edge R. 25790 (55) transversely with respect to the direction of adjustment of the additional shutter (25), is pressed in its locking direction whilst experiencing pretensioning and can be pivoted in the dis engagement direction whilst experiencing elastic deformation.

5. Headlight according to Claim 4, characterized in that the actuation lever (46) has an end region (49) which is bent around pointing counter to the direction (16) of the light and can be locked on the locking edge (55).

6. Headlight according to Claim 5. characterized in that the part (10; 20; 23), provided with the locking edge (55), of the headlight has a f lange (32) which projects beyond the edge of the reflector (10) and is provided with an opening (52) for the end region (49) of the actuation lever (46) to pass through, the locking edge (55) and the stop (54) being constructed on the edge of the opening (52).

7. Headlight according to one of Claims 3 to 6, characterized in that a ramp (57) is arranged next to the locking edge (55) in the direction of adjustment of the additional shutter (25), via which ramp (57) the actuation lever (46) slides during an adjustment of the additional shutter (25) into a limit position and locks on the locking edge (55) at the end of the ramp (57).

8. Headlight according to one of Claims 2 to 7,, characterized in that the actuation lever (46) has in its end region (51) a receptacle (58) for a tool for its adjustment.

9. Headlight according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the additional shutter (25) is a sheet-metal part. the latter having an essentially plane main region (41) in which a shutter edge (43) is formed and the sprung arm (45) and the actuation lever (46) being formed out of the main region (41).

10. A headlight substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying v drawings.