SCREENING METHOD OF BLINDING LIGHTS FOR VEHICLES

Abstract: Method for eliminating the vision difficulties of the vehicle drivers caused by the blinding lights from the headlight of other vehicles comprising the procedures of transmitting one directional component of the lights from the headlight of a vehicle and then absorbing the said component of the lights in the other vehicle. For that purpose, each headlight of all the vehicles in use is provided in front of the light source with one or more polarizing sheets, namely, polarizers having certain direction of polarizing axes and also each of all the vehicles is provided ahead of the driver's eyes with one or more polarizing sheets, namely, analyzers whose polarizing axes are substantially normal or nearly normal to those of the polarizers. The said polarizing sheets may have polarizing grains embedded therein for establishing polarizing direction in the form of straight lines, wave lines or any other curved lines.

Description: 5CREENING METHOD OF BLINDING LIGHTS FOR VEHICLES Technical Fields This invention relates to a, method for screening the blinding lights from vehicles and particularly to a method for filtering out the blinding glares of the headlights from the surrounding vehicles by utilizing plurality of polarizing sheets so as to relieve the vision difficulties of the vehicle drivers from blinding lights. Background of the Invention Various techniques for relieving the vision diffi¬ culties of the vehicle drivers caused by the blinding lights from the headlights of other vehicles have been developed. Currently, most automobiles in use have sun visors made of transparent coloured plastic installed so as to be rotatable vertically downward from its non-use position parallel to the plane of the automobile roof to a position partially obstructing the glare light from the oncoming cars that might otherwise deleteriously affect the driver's vision. However, this conventional visor has a number of drawbacks. When the oncoming cars on the opposite side appear, in order to rotate the visor to the operative posi¬ tion, the driver should manually handle the visor with one hand driving the car with the other hand. On the other hand, if there are vehicles approaching in line on the oppo¬ site side, the visor should be always kept in the operative position so that the vision of the driver is somewhat impared for observing other objects on the road which is quite necessary for safe driving operation. In an attempt to overcome these and other deficiencies, it has been proposed in U.S.Pat. No.3, 61,181 to Eddie R. Golden to provide a light shield for shading the eyes of vehicle drivers consisting of a laterally extending series of contiguous vertically disposed, electri- cally darkenable cells or zones such as liquid crystals, each of which cells or zones is individually cross associate clectrically with photosensitive sensor cells and has characteristic that it is transparent when no voltage is applied to it, but that it becomes progressively opaque with increase of applied voltage. The applied voltage is controlled by the said photosensitive cells whose electrical resistance increases as intensity of light exposure diminishes. The apparatus, any way, has very complicated structure and does not render satisfactory vision of drivers. Further, it continuously consumes electricity when in use. As an alternative to the above, it has been also proposed that the headlights of the vehicle are provided with photosensitive sensors to decrease the intensity of lightness of the headlight upon exposure of the lights of approaching car or to lower the direction of the ray from the headlight. As another alternative for that purpose, it has been worked that the road is provided with light blocking fence constructed along the center line of the road so as to block off the light from the headlight of vehicles approaching from the opposite side of the road. However, photosensitive sensor equipped headlight does not operate immediately and sensitively enough to provide safe and convenient driving and the latter, light blocking fence, is not adquate for construction on the road other than the highway and, moreover, needs enormous construction cost. In addition to the above deficiencies, most of the conventional methods connot solve the vision difficulties of the vehicle drivers caused by the lights from the head¬ lights of the cars following behind which are reflected through the back mirrors. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a screening method of blinding light for vehicles which overcomes many of the " above-described problems. Another object of this invention is to provide a method for filtering out the lights of the headlights from all directions by simply using a pair of polarized sheets. It is a further object of this invention to provide a screening method of blining lights for vehicles which evenly filters out the lights from the headlights of other vchiclcs on the road the lateral slope of which varies irregularly to cause the rolling of the vehicles. Summary of the Invention In order to accomplish the-above objects, the present invention comprises procedures of transmitting one directional conponent of the lights from the headlights of vehicles and then absorbing the said component of the lights in the other vehicle so as to eliminate the vision difficulties of the vehicle driver that would otherwise arise by the blinding lights from the surrounding vehicles by providing each headlight of all the vehicles in use, in front of the blinding light sources, with one or more polarizing sheets, namely, "polarizers" which have certain direction of polarizing axes and also providing each of all the vehicles, ahead of the driver's eyes, with one or more polarizing sheets, namely, "analyzers" whose polarizing axes are substantially normal or neary normal to those of polarizers. In the present invention, the polarizing grains, that is, the long-chain molecules which are embedded within the polarizing sheets to establish polarizing direction may be in the form of straight lines, wave lines or any other curved lines that can polarize the light. Embodiments of the method in accordance with the present invention will now be described by way of examples and with reference to the accompanying drawings. Brief Deseription of the Drawings Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a car embodyinσ the present invention, with parts broken away; and Fig. 2 is a perpective view of a pair of spectacles embodying the present invention. Embodiments of the Invention Referring to Fig. 1, there is shown a car 1 having two headlights whose cover lense 3 mounted on the housing thereof and in front of the light source 2 is made of polarizing glass with substantially vertical polarizing axis and also having some portion 6 of the windshield 4, ahead of the driver's eyes, is made of polarizing glass of substantially horizontal polarizing axis. As an alternative to " the above, the cover lense 3 of the headlight housing and/or some' ortion 6 of the windshield in front of the driver's eyes may be covered by sheets of commercial polarizing material called Polaroid instead of making them of polarizing glass thereby constitut- ing ' the "polarizer" and "analyzer" respectively. As another alternative, the analyzer may be replaced by a polarizing visor 5 or a pair of spectacles 7 provided with polarizing sheets as shown in Fig. 3. It is also preferrable to provide the back mirrors of the car with polarizing sheets attached over the surface thereof where blinding lights from other cars following behind reflect. As an alternative to polarizing back mirrors, the polarizing sheet may be attached on the surfaces of the door window glass and rear windshield of the car. It will be appreciated that, according to the present invention, the "polarizer" may be mounted in front of other light source on the road besides the headlights of vehicles, such as street lamps^ so as to polarize the lights therefrom. When all the vehicles in use embody the present invention, the operation of this invention is as follows. The polarizing sheets mounted in front of the headlights of. a vehicle i.e., polarizers will transmit only those wavetrain components of the lights from headlights whose electric vectors vibrate parallel to the polarizing axes of the polarizers, thereby polarizing the lights. And then the analyzers equipped in the other vehicle and having the polarizing axes perpendicular to those of the polarizers obsorb the polarized lights so that the blinding lights can not any more reach the driver's eyes. As indicated above, the material of the polarizing sheets of this invention may have the polarizing grains in the from of wave lines or any other curved lines to establish polarizing direction. When the polarizing sheets having polarizing grains in the form of wave lines are used as polarizer and/or analyzer, the intensity of transmitted lights directly from the headlight of other vehicles could be substantially constant to the driver's eyes even in the case of rolling of the vehicles travelling on the irregularly laterally sloped road.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. Λ screening method of blinding lights for vehicles comprising the procedures of transmittinσ one directional component of the lights from the headlights of vehicles and then absorbing the said component of the lights in other vehicles by providing each headliσht of all the vehicles in use, in front of the light source, with one or more polarizing sheets, namely, polarizers having certain direction of polarizing axes and also providing each of a.ll the vehicles, ahead of the driver's eyes, with one or more polarizing sheets, namely, analyzers whose polarizing axes are substantially normal or nearly normal to those of the polarizers. 2. The screening method of blinding lights for vehicles as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the polarizers and the analyzers, respectively, are cover lenses of the headlights and some portion of the windshield each of which is made of polarizing glass. 3. The screening .method of blinding lights for vehicles as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the polarizers and/or the analyzers are Polariods covering over the surfeces of the cover lenses of ϊ he headlights and/or some portions of the windshield, door window glass or back mirrors. 4. The screening method of blinding lights for vehicles as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the analyzers are polarizing visor. 5. The sereening method of blinding lights for vehicles as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the analyzers are a pair of spectacles provided with polarizing sheets mounted thereon. 6. The screening method of blinding lights for vehicles as claimed in claim 1 characterized in that the polarizing sheets making the polarizers and/or analyzers have polarizing grains embedded therein for establishing the polarizing direction in the form of wave lines so as to make the transmitted intensity of the lights sub tantially constant to the driver's eyes even in the case of rolling of the vehicles running on the irregularly laterally loped road.

Inventors: KANG HYOK SOO, KANG, HYOK, SOO
Applicants: KANG HYOK SOO, KANG, HYOK, SOO
Application year: 1987
Main classification: B60Q1
IPC codes: B60Q1, F21S8, F21V9, G02C7