US1386968A - Best available cop - Google Patents

Description

BEST AVAiLi-XBLE COP.

H. M. SMITH.

DIMMING APPARATUS FOR HEADLIGHTS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV- 11, 19W.

Patented Aug. 9, 1921.

VMMAy 4/3 3.

W o m w M 11M onford Smith,

NI ED snares v BEST Avauaere cor? PATENT ()FFICE.

HENRY MONFORD SMITH, OF 'LYNDONVILLE, VERMONT.

, ilemma Aryan/arcs FOR HEADLIGHTS.

.e To all whom it concern:

Beit known that I, Lanna: Monronn sa ine citizen of the United States, and

a resident of 'Lyndonville, in the county of Caledonia and State of Vermont, have in-,

. vented an Improvement in Dimming Apparatus 'for'Headlights, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying' drawings, is a specificatlon,

like Characters oirtlie drawings representing likeparts.

This 'nve ntionrelates to dimming apparatusfor lamps in general, and more particularly for headlights of motor vehicles.

' The invention and its aims and objects will be best understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing of one illustrative embodiment of the invention the lIlYGDtlOD in its true scope being pointed Out/ 1H the appended claims.

shown diagrammatically;

Fig. 2 isa front'view of the electric bulb and shadesto cooperate therewith;

Fig 8 is' a top plan view of the upper shade and mounting thereof;

(Fig. 4 is a front view of a part of the shade-operating mechanism and mounting thereof; Y

Fig. 5 is a representation, in part diagrammatic, of the shade-actuating means.

The invention is herein shown in its application to headlights for motor vehicles. Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 shows a headlight of well-known construction. having the usual casing 2 and lens 4. Vithin the casing 2 is a substantially parabolic partition 6, having a central opening surrounded by asleeve 8 preferably integral with'said partition, the front surface of said partition 6 constituting a reflector 9 of usual construction. Within said sleeve 8 is mounted an electric bulb-socket 10 of usual construction, adapted to receive at its forward end an electric light bulb 12, and having theusual contact or contacts (not shown) for the latter, adapted to be connected to a storage battery or other suitable source of electric current by wires 14. i4. In the illustrative embodiment of the nv vention herein shown the dimming means Specification of Letters Patent.

connections I Patented Aug, 9,1921.

Application filed November '17, 1919. Serial No.;i 338,5 55. v :1

preferably comprises burvedjshaldes i16 and 18 piv otally m pmed at their rear ends upon the stu'ds QOLa'nd 2 2, respectively, said studs being carried upon opposite sides of a band 24- (see I, li i gfliil}e11irolin; ;,j the bulb SocketIO ace'nt its forward end and clamped thereto a iclampingfscrew26 and nut 2s. sqrro din ithe stud ma ia.

secured to "the rearwardly proj 'ecting shank h s ade s'ai'p in enw, and reu e e aid. 2.2,;i' nd' sa e the rearwardly projecting "shank qrthcsimde 18, i511 p QmM-i Tbejp mo lines in Fig. 1 and in: full lines in Fig. 4,

while at its upper edgejthe pinion 34 meshes into the pos tions in dotted v lines in Fig. l'fto obtai'n' the" "illuminating capacity, of the ligl1t he shades will prffrably. .b'e cnrved 1on gitudinally and transversely j insubstantial correspondence to the curya'ture of the re flector 9, and their inner's'urfaceswill preferably be provided with aQ-reflecting surface, so that, when i' n' the position shown in dotted lines, in Fig; '1, they may take the place of the portions of the reflector surface masked by them in that position and not materially 'impair' the reflection of the li ht-rays. l

I 4y invention contemplates theprovision of suitable means toybperate theshades. I may provideany suitable means'for that purpose, but I'preferably use means operated byelectrical energy. As'pneconvenient and simple form'of such means I have here provided a solenoid 40; dia rammati cally .represented in Fig. 5, whic may be of any well-known and usual construction. Herein said solenoid-is contained within a casing 42, Fig. l, remo ablysecured to the bulb socket 10 by bands 44, 44, encircling said socket and casing and having their free ends fastened together by; screw-bolts H Qjmeshes at its loweredgew1th ajracki36'shown in dotted 46, 46. One end of the core 48 of the solenoid projects fromfthe front end of the casin 4:2 and is secured in an suitable manner to a curved bar 50 carrying the racks 36, 38, preferably formed integral therewith. -;,The frontvend of the core 48 is preferably screw-threaded and extends through an opening said'bar, to which it is secured bya nut 52;screwed thereon. Thef core 4:8 is provided with an intermediate sector 54: of insulating material, and ateithr side of the'latter it is surrounded by the coils 56 and 58, respectively. "If the coil 58fbegenergized,the coil 56 being de-.

energized,' the core Will be drawn to the 11ight,.Fig.f5,substantially from the dotted hire" to jtheg'tull'line position, w-hile'if said coil f56 f'be energized, the coil 58 being dethe .first instance ,the racks will .turn the thr ugh. aqwire a to oneaterminal ot the energize'd,"the core will bedrawn substantially froml thefull line IJOSi-CiOH Eig," 5 to the dottedlline position said-figure, In

pinions 'so as to c'l ose theshades; in the. second instance'they willbe moved to turn the pinions to open the shades. For energizing; the coils I. may use any suitable 7 source of electrical energy. For convenience I prcferably use a battery, which may be the regular storage battery of the automobile,-,and "to which the coils are connected by suitablewlrlng, sultablemeans, such-as a switch beingfplfovided to establish theneces}: sary connection. In Fig. l I haveldiagrammatica'lly rrepreseiitedia batteryat 60, a

, switchat 62, contacts'at 64, 66, and suitable cireuitsifor connecting thegcoils .to the bat- One circuit runs from the contact 662 coil 56, from the other terminal of .the,latterthrough wires bands to onepole oi'the battery, ;and from the other vpoleot ,the battery through .the wire j to the switch 62. The othercircuitruns fromthe contact 66 through the wire fd 'to one'terminalot the coil 58 and from the other terminal or" the'latter, through wires 0 and c to one pole of the battery and from the other pole of the latter, through the wire. 7 to the switch 62. It will thus be seen that with the switch in contact with the contact 6 1, the coil- 56 will-beenergized, while with the switch in contact with the Contact 66, the coil 58 will neither coil will be energized.

les ees T d lL- BLE COP:

The shades will remain in dimming .or unz-dimming position indefinitely when once moved into these positions by the solenoid, without keeping-the latter energized.

The main object of dimming devices is to eliminate the inconvenience causeditO, pedes trians or drivers coming in the opposite direction, by the blinding glare produced by the undimmed headlights.

The blinding lare "is due to the a s that are reflected :Erom the reflector 19, those Lic fiected fromthe upper and'lo'wer surfaces of the reflector'being particularly obnoxious in,

this respect. ,The unreflejcted rays emanating from the bulb do not havethe' blinding efi'ert', and those; reflected laterallyghavei it only to';aj lesser degree, if at all.' IFioinan examination of Fig. 1 it will be seen-that the rays that would be reflected firorn the upper and lowercsurfaces fall substantially within the anglesformed bythe lines .w-rz:

and g g and it will be noted that whcnrthe' shades are in dimming positionthese rays are interrupted bythe shades and are not In the embodiment of theinventionherein shown the shades are cut away more or less, as shown at 70, at either side,fto allow, more or less of the rays directed laterally to be reflected from the lateral surface of the reflector and to be projected fromthefheadlight whenithe shades are. in (limming;position, should-it be desired to have inorerlight,

than would be afforded by the .unre'flected rays alone, when the' shadesareindimming position, these laterally reflected rays as stated, only slightly objectionable, if at all. .These cut-away portions ,70 ca-n,'. however, 'be' omitted from the shades if desired, so as to cut off practically allofItheEreflectedrays, and leaving only the iinrefiected rays when the shades are in dimmingv position. I i

In the embodiment ofthe inventinnihercin shown, the throw of the two shades? is the same, but it will be apparent thatnby varying the initial adjustment of the,.two shades and their pinions relatively .to the racks, a different throw may be imparted to i the two shades, with ;a correspondingvariatron 1n the dimming actionl I preferably make the shades and alsothc racks and pinions of some ilightniaterial,

such as aluminum or .angaluminum or other light alloy some to reduce .theenergy .required for their operation asmuchns possible. They may be, howevenmade of any suitable material.

lVhile I hayevherein, for the sake ofsimplicity, shown a single headlightequipped with the illustrativeembodiment of my invention, it will beapparentthatanyreasonable number of lamps .or headlights thus equipped maybe operated as describedfrom a single or a plurality of switches, in accordance with my invention, by providing the suitable connections, which latter and the mode and manner of making the same will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. The switch may be placed in any suitable position, preferably on the dash-board of the automobile where it can be easily reached by the driver.

It will be obvious that various changes may be made in the details of the means herein shown for carrying the invent'on into practical effect, and it is to be understood that applicant does not regard himself as restricted or limited to these details, his invention in its true scope being definitely set .forth in the claims.

Claims:

1. In a headlight or other lamp in combination, an electric bulb as a source of light; a reflector; opposed dimming shades movable to and from dimming position; and operating means to move said shades in substantially vertical direction to and from dimming position, said shades being oppositely curved transversely of said bulb and cut away laterally thereof so as to leave said bulb uncovered in front and at a portion of the sides thereof, while covering said bulb at top and bottom, when said shades are in dimming position.

2. In a headlight or other lamp, a source of light, a reflector, oppositely movable shades for said source of light between the latter and said reflector, and operating means oppositely to move said shades to open and close the same, said shades being shaped, so that, when in closed position, they intercept rays directed upwardly and clownwardly from said source of light and allow lateral and forward rays to pass freely.

3. In a headlight or other lamp, in combi nation, a source of light; a reflector; opposed dimming members between said reflector and said source of light; and operating mechanism for said dimming members, comprising racks within said headlight and pinions operatively connected to said dimming members and said racks, said racks facin in opposite directions.

4. In a headlight or other lamp, in combination, a source of light; a reflector; dimming members mounted for rocking movement between said reflector and opposite sides of said source of light; pinions car ried by said dimming members; racks to cooperate with said pinions upon opposed sides thereof respectively; and electrically actuated operating means for said racks.

5. In a headlight or other lamp, in combination, a source of light; a reflector; dimming members between said reflector and opposite sides of said source of light; pinions carried by said dimming members; a rack member having rack teeth facing in opposite directions to cooperate with said pinions; and means to actuate said rack member.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

H. MONFO'RD SMITH.

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