US1577739A - Headlight reflector - Google Patents

Description

March 23 1926. 1,577,739

- H. F. LOUKES HEADLIGHT REFLECTOR Filed May 2, 1925 INVENTOR liotl'ris F: L ouites BY Qwmm ATTORNEY Fatentcd Mar. 23 1925,

u ire HARRIS LE. LOUKES, GE

To all whom it 12mg concern:

.Be it known that, I, HAnnrs I Louiins, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stockton, county of San Joaquin, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Headlight Reflectors; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, whichform a iartfof this application.

This invention relates to improvements in the reflectors used in headlights of motor vehicles.

My principal object is to provide a reflector so constructed that no glare will be thrown into the eyes of any person ahead of the light, independent of Whether any of the special so-called non-glare lenses are used in connection with my reflector or not. In fact as far as the non-glare feature is concerned my reflector may be used with a plain glass lens.

Most special reflectors are built to throw the glare toward the road rather then at tempting to eliminate it. As a common result either the light is thrown onto the road so close to the car as to make it difficult for the driver to see any distance ahead, or if the lens are made or adjusted to throw the light further beyond the vehicle, a certain amount of glare is then thrown into the eyes of oncoming drivers or pedestrians.

This is because as, I have discovered from experiments, the main source of glare in the ordinary parabolic reflector, is the reflecting surface thereof immediately behind the light bulb, which is still present regardless of any form of lens used in connection with the reflector. Dulling of this surface by blackening the same or by other means has been resorted to in an attempt to eliminate the glare, but this reduces the efficiency of the light considerably and makes a blind spot in the beam.

In my improved construction the glare is eliminated without the formation of ahy such blind spot and without reducing the efliciency of the light in any way.

In connection with the glare eliminating feature I have arranged for a better diffusion or spreading of the light onto the road than is ossible with the ordinary reflector and witli out the need of any special lenses.

S'r'rns rear o STGCKTON, CALIFORNIA.

nnanncrcn.

1925. Serial are. 27,445.

produce a simple and inexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly elfeetive for the purpose for which it is designed. i

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fullyappear by a perusal of the following specification and claim.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalviews:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the reflector, and

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the numeral 1 denotes the reflector in general, of common parabolic form except as here inafter shown. This reflector has the central orifice 2 through which the stem of the light bulb 3 projects and the usual rim flange 4% to enable the reflector to be mounted in the ordinary casing.

My glare eliminating and light diffusing feature comprises a flat portion 5 extending transversely of the lower half of the refiector. This portion may be considered as a circular sheet placed on the parabolic re fleeting surface and'intersecting the same and of a size to extend from said reflecting surface a short distance above the central opening to therim at the bottom. This element therefore is disposed at an acute angle to the horizontal axial plane of the reflector. In manufacturing practice of course the reflector would be pressed out or molded with this flat portion 5 as an integral feature, rather than as a separate piece.

The portion 5 is provided with a central opening 6 considerably larger than the opening 2, and which cuts through and eliminates the uppermost portion of the me1nber5. The metal from the edge of this opening converges or slopes to the opening 2 to form a wall as shown at 7.

It will therefore be noted that with this construction all the vertically disposed area of the reflector back of the bulb, ex cept for a certain portion thereof above the bulb, is eliminated, its place being taken by the sloping wall 7. Retention of the rcfleeting area above the bulb does no harm however since the eyes of the onlooker are always above the central axis of the beam of light, no matter how far from the light the eyes may be. The rays from the light which ordinarily strike the reflecting portion behind the light, to be then thrown directly ahead of or at a slight converging angle to the axis of the reflector are now caught by the sloping wall 7 and reflected so that such rays are no longer directed ahead. Any light rays caught by the flat surface 5 are thrown onto the ground directly ahead of the vehicle as a flat transversely disposed beam of light which aids in providing a good driving light. The upper and side portions of the reflector of course function in the same manner as at present, since they retain their ordinary parabolic contour.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

.lVhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not "form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A headlight refl ctor comprising a main parabolic member having a central opening to receive the socket of a light bulb, said bulb being arranged to be disposed in wardly of the reflector and being larger than said opening, an auxiliary flat reflecting clement extending transversely of the main reflector from a point above the light therein toward the bottom rim of said main reflector; said auxiliary reflector at its upper end being cut away to form a U-shaped opening of greater width than the light, and whose lower periphery is concentric with the central opening in the main reflector, and a reflecting surface extending straight from the edges of said U-shaped opening to. said central opening.

ture.

HARRIS F. LOUKES.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signa-

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