USRE22066E

USRE22066E - Stop and tail lamp

Info

Publication number: USRE22066E
Authority: US
Publication date: 1942-04-14

Description

April 14, 1942. \s. M. DQVER` Re. 22,066

' STOP AND TAIL LAMP v original Filed oct. 15, 193e INVENTOR. SAMUEL M. Dau/ERl Ressued pr. 14, 1942 STOP AND` TAIL LAMP Samuel M. Dover, Chicago, Ill.

Original, No. 2,113,553, dated April 5, 1938, Serial No. 105,665, October 15, 1936. Application for reissue April 8, 1940, Serial No. 328,556

(Cl. 17 EI-32.9)

8 Claims.

This invention relates to automobile stop and tail lamps.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide an automobile stop and tail lamp or illuminating device which shall be visible from all possible angles from which it may be approached regardless of the horizontal or inclined position of the automobile; which will direct a beam of light a very great distance so as to be visible to an approaching motorist a great distance away; and which will also illuminate the automobile license plate or vadjacent part of the roadway. It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a lamp wherein the entire glass part thereof constitutes a single piece.

It is astill further object of the present invention to provide a stop and tail lamp housing comprising one integral body of glass the main portion of which is of one color, for instance red to transmit red light indicative of danger, and another portion of which is of another color of higher light transmitting characteristics, or of clear glass, for permitting the passage of light therethrough for illuminating the license plate, or illuminating the roadway to facilitate backing of the automobile.

In recent years, with the `advent of higher and higher automobile speeds, it has become necessary to provide a tail lamp which shall be visible at great distances. visibility, the lens of the lamp is provided with a small portion, popularly known as a bulls eye, so constructed that it concentrates the light which strikes it from the lamp bulb, and transmits that light as a concentrated beam. For maximum effectiveness of this concentrating portion of the lens the lamp bulb must be at a denite location with respect thereto. On the other hand the bulb must also bear a definite location with respect to the portion of the lens that is of clear glass for illuminating the license plate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a stop and tail lamp of the above character wherein the angular position of the bulb, the location of the license illuminating portion of the lens, and the location of the light concentrating portion thereof are correlated with respect to each other to produce the desired results by the use of a single bulb.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

To increase the distance of In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front view, in partial section, of a stop and tail lamp constructed in accordance with the present invention, and illustrating how such lamp illuminates the license plates and adjacent portions of the roadway;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the stop and-tail lamp of Figure 1, said View being taken along the line 2 2l of Figure 1; and

Figure 43 is a bottom View of the lamp of Figure 2.

The stop and tail lamp is indicated at I, and includes a back portion 2 having means for mounting the lamp and having also an opening for receiving a bulb socket. A bulb socket 3 is mounted in the socket opening, said socket being at an angle to the back2 for a purpose which will be set forth more fully as this description proceeds. The back 2 is provided with lens holding means in the form of a forwardly extending inturned rim 5 around the periphery thereof for receiving a holding ring 3| against which the lens bears. It is also provided with a short lens cen tering piece 6 bent forwardly as indicated at 1, that is adapted to extend into a notch in a lens for centering the lens with respect to the bulb. A two -lament electric light bulb 9 is mounted in the socket 3.

The lens, or lamp housing, comprises a unitary body of glass I5 having a red signal part I6 which constitutes the front of the lamp and faces rearwardly of the automobile, andl a peripherally extending rim I1 integral with the front IG, so that the rim and the front together form a casing 0r housing. An outwardly extending ange I8 is formed around the outer periphery of the rim I'I. This ange is provided at one place with a centering notch I9 into which the projection 1 extends for centering the lens in the correct angular position in the back 2. The lens proper is formed of red glass which is the accepted color for indicating danger. A portion of the rim I'I is formed of clear glass, as indicated at 22. The clear glass portion 22 is a unitary integral part of the rim I1 and the front I6, and is appreciably thinner than the adjacent red glass, as is apparent from Figures 1 and 2. The outside surface of the glass body or housing I5 constitutes a continuous smooth surface at the merger of the clearer glass 22 with the rest of the glass, the reduction in thickness being entirely on the inside surface of the lamp housing. To that effect the inside surface of the lamp housing is indented towards the outside surface at the juncture of the colored portion with the clearer glass portion 22, as may be seen in Figure 2. The clear portion 22 and the bulb 9 are so located with respect to one another, and the portion 22 is of such a width, that the light from the electric bulb 9 has a suiiicient spread to illuminate the entire automobile license plate. It also illuminates an adjacent part of the roadway and thus facilitates backing up of the automobile, whether it be into a parking space or into a garage.

If desired, the inner surface of the front part IB of the lens may be provided with projections 23 for reiecting light from the headlights of a rearwardly approachingautomobile back to the driver of the approaching automobile. These projections may be of any shape known in the art for accomplishing this result, as` buttons, almost right angle cones or tetrahedrons, or the like. It is also provided with a light concentrating portion 25, known as a bulls eye, which is so constructed and located with respect to the stop light filament of the` bulb 9 that it concentrates the incident light from the bulb into a beam of high light intensity having only a slight spread and extending directly rearwardly of the vehicle. The shape and location of the light concentrating portion 25 of the lens must be correlated with the location of the bulb in order to obtain the proper direction and intensity of the concentrated light beam. This result is obtained by locating the portion 25 in a position where the light intensity of the bulb is high, and making the angular position of the bulb with respect to the portion 25 such that the light rays from the bulb will be at a proper angle to the portion 25 so that when they are bent by passage through the portion 25 they will emanate therefrom in the desired direction, namely directly rearwardly of the automobile. Thus the angular position of the bulb is correlated with the position of the portion 25 and with the position of the portion 22. The clearer light from the portion 22, for illuminating the license plate, is in a direction at a very substantial angle to the horizontal rays from the head lights of an approaching automobile. Because of the arrangement illustrated, substantially none of the light from the portion 22 for illuminating the license plate extends rearwardly of the automobile and therefore light from the portion 22 cannot produce any objectionable glare insofar as concerns a motorist following the automobile on which the improved lamp housing above described is located.

It is to be noted that clear glass portion 22 terminates below the normal line of direct vision to the tail lamp when the same is Viewed by a pedestrian at the rear of the automobile. If the contour of the portion of the automobile on which the stop and tail lamp is mounted is such that the lens I is at a substantial angle to that illustrated in Figure 2, then the clear glass portion 22 may be of greater or lesser width as may be necessary in order to avoid glare, the width beingk such that the portion of the clear glass closest to the center of the lens is still outside of the direct line of vision to the lens when'the same is viewed by a pedestrian at the rear of the lens. The term ,glass is used in this specification and claims in a broad sense to include any suitable transparent medium.

The inside diameter' of the rim 5 of the back 2 is greater than the outside diameter of the flange I8 of the lens, Thelens rests against a spring comprising a soft sponged rubber ring 30, which forces thev lens outwardly. A split ring 3l of spring metal overlies the iiange I8 and extends into the rim 5 and serves to limit the outward movement of the lens. Thus the lens is held in place by the outward spring pressure exerted thereagainst by the soft rubber 3U that is compressed by the lens, the split ring 3l serving to resist the spring pressure of the rubber 30, rather than to press the lens against the back 2. The pressure of the rubber serves also to hold the ring 3l in place. In lieu of the soft rubber ring 3U I may use other resilient means for exerting a yielding outward pressure on the rim of the lens or casing I5. Any spring means will serve this purpose, and a metal leaf spring may be used instead of the rubber strip 3U.

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes I have here shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention. It is, however, to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction here shown, the same being merely illustrative of the principles of the invention.

What I consider new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An automobile lamp casing comprising a unitary single layer cup shaped glass body having a signal portion at the part of the casing which faces rearwardly of the automobile, said rearwardly facing signal portion being of red glass throughout the entire thickness of the red rearwardly facing signal portion, the side wall of the cup being also of red glass of the same color as that of the signal portion but having a portion of glass substantially clearer than said signal portion, said clearer portion being'embraced by the red glass and located substantially entirely outside of the line of direct normal vision to said lamp as viewed by a pedestrian at the rear of the automobile, said red signal portion and said `fclearer portion being one integral piece of glass, 40'

and a light concentrating portion formed in said rearwardly facing signal portion of the glass body.

2. An open ended automobile tail lamp housing `in the form of a single layer of glass of uniform 'color throughout its thickness, said housing hav- .ing a signal portion at the part of the housing which faces rearwardly of the automobile, said rearwardly facing signal portion merging into a Y. peripherally extending signal portion of substantially the same color and of uniform width, said peripherally extending signal portion including a license plate illuminating part of glass of diiferent color than that of the glass of the rearwardly facing signal portion and constituting one braced by the rearwardly facing signal portion is maximum at the open end of the housing.

3. An automobile stop and tail lamp including a glasscasing having a signal portion at the part of the casing which faces rearwardly of the automobile, said rearwardly facing signal portion merging into a peripherally extending signal portion of uniform width and of glass of the same color as the rest of the rearwardly facing por tion, said peripherally extending signal portion including a license plate illuminating part oi glass of different and higher light transmitting characteristics than the glass of the rearwardly iacing signal portion and constituting one unitary .piece of glass with said signal portions, said clearer glass being embraced by the rest of the glass of the peripherally extending portion, an electric light bulb in said casing, said bulb being located to direct light through the license plate illuminating portion of the casing and also through the rearwardly facing signal portion, and said casing having a light concentrating part constructed and located with respect to the bulb to direct a concentrated beam oi light from the bulb directly rearwardly of the automobile.

4. An automobile step and tail lamp comprising a glass casing having a signal portion at the part of the casing which faces rearwardly of the automobile, said rearwardly facing signal part being of colored glass and having a license plate illuminating part of clearer glass than the signalling part and integral with said signalling part, an electric light bulb having a light lament in said casing, said bulb being adjacent the clearer glass illuminating part to direct an appreciable.

amount of light through the clearer glass part oi the casing, the nlament of said bulb being so positioned that the most intense Zone of light produced thereby is on the colored glass portion or the casing, and light concentrating means formed at the colored glass portion of the lens in the region of high light intensity, said light concentrating means and said bulb being so positioned relative to one another that the light from the light filament of the bulb falling on the light concentrating means is bent to form a concentrated beam having only a slight spread and extending directly rearward of the automobile.

5. An automobile stop and tail lamp including a glass housing having a signal portion at the part of the housing which faces rearwardly of the automobile and having a license plate illuminating part of glass of diiierent color than the color of the signalling portion and constituting one unitary piece of glass with said signal portion, electric lighting means, said electric lighting means including an electric light filament located to direct light through the license plate illuminating portion of the casing and also through the rearwardly facing signal portion, said electric lighting means including a second electric light filament adjacent the first filament, and said casing having a light concentrating part constructed and located with respect to the second lament to direct a concentrated beam of light from the second lament directly rearwardly of the automobile.

6. An automobile stop and tail lamp including a glass casing having a signal portion at the part of the casing which faces rearwardly of the automobile, said rearwardly facing signal portion merging into a peripherally extending signal portion of glass of the same color as that of the rearwardly facing portion, said peripherally eX- tending signal portion including a license plate illuminating part of glass of different light transmitting characteristics than the glass of the rearwardly facing signal portion and constituting one unitary piece of glass with said signal portions, electric lighting means, said electric lighting means including an electric light filament located to direct light through the license plate illuminating portion of the casing and also through the rearwardly facing signal portion, said electric lighting means including a second electric light iilament, and said casing having a light concentrating part constructed and located with respect to the second lament to direct a concentrated beam of light from the second filament directly rearwardly of the automobile.

7. An automobile stop and tail lamp including a glass casing having a signal portion at the part of the casing which faces rearwardly of the automobile, said rearwardly faeing signal portion merging into a peripherally extending outwardly diverging signal portion oi glass of the same color as the rest of the rearwardly facing portion, said peripherally extending signal portion being of substantially uniform width and including a license plate illuminating part of glass of different and higher light transmitting characteristics than the glass of the rearwardly facing signal portion and of the rest of the peripherally extending portion and constituting one unitary piece of glass with said signal portions, said clearer glass being embraced by the rest of the glass of the peripherally extending portion, an electric light bulb having a stop light ilament and another lament in said casing, said bulb being located to direct light through the license plate illuminating portion of the casing and also through the rearwardly facing signal portion, and said casing having a light concentrating part constructed and located with respect to the stop light filament of the bulb to direct a concentrated beam of light from the bulb directly rearwardly of the automobile.

8. In an automobile stop and tail lamp; a lens constituting one integral cup shaped body including a signal part of colored glass facing rear, wardly of the automobile, a plurality of projections distributed over the signalling area of thel lens 'and arranged to reect incident light from the headlights of an approaching automobile as a slightly spreading beam substantially parallel to the incident light; light concentrating means formed on the signal part of said lens, and a license plate illuminating part integral with but thinner than the colored part and having a surface at a substantial angle with respect to the signal part and of a contrasting and clearer color than said signal part; electric lighting means including a stop light iilament and a tail light filament in relatively close proximity to each other, said filaments being so positioned that the most intense Zone of light produced thereby is on the signal part; the light concentrating means being in the region of high light intensity, said filaments also being adjacent to the contrasting glass part' to direct an appreciable amount of light therethrough, said light concentrating means and both of said filaments being so positioned that the light from both filaments falling on the light concentrating means is bent to form a concentrated beam having only a slight spread and extending rearwardly of the automobile; said contrasting glass part being so located with respect to said laments that light transmitted therethrough is in a direction at a substantial angle to the horizontal.

SAMUEL M. DOVER.