The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-11-12
lsurnes Tells Users s@ of Automobiles How
 To Avoid Light Glare


 automobile accidents caused through
 dazzling headIghtss has issued state
 nent telling how the glare, may be
 avoided and the danger reduced. The
 statement fOl1Ows:-
 9 Numerous motor vehicle accidents
 lave been caused indirectly by the
 dazzling effects of brilliant automobile lamps, but strange as it may seem,
 the lamp that causes the most dazzle
 )r glare, is not necessarily the most
 effective and efficient headlight. As a
 matter of fact. the most successful
 lamp is one constructed and ad-
 justed that it will direct the greater
 part of the projected rays upon the
 surface of the road. and not up in the
 air It must be remembered that the
 object in view is to illuminate the road
 and not the atmosphere above it.
 Numerous methods of preventing
 headlight glare have been devised the
 majority of which, restrict or shade
 the light to the great disadvantage of
 the notorist- Night driving with re-
 stricted or shaded lamps is positively
 dangerous when approaching a pair
 of glaing headlamps- It is therefore ! unreasonable to ask any motorist to alter his lamps unless the law will pro
 tect him against the effects of power
 fu1 lamps on other carsy
 Oddly enough, however, operators
 who are put to annoyance, and even
 risk by the glare from another's lamps
 often are aware that they themselves
 are similarly offending, I am con i Vinced that the majority of eases of d eIaring headlights are the actual re- Isult of ignorance on the part of the l owners rather than a desire to "hog
 the road'' at night.
 l If operators would pay as much attention to the headlights as they I do to the earburetor or other parts of lA1. I,o eff of glare c0H1d he reduced in minimum.
 1 This neglect is excusable when one lconsiders that few, if any, instruction books supplied with the cars contain information regarding the proper care l of head1amps. No great difficulties
 are involved in reducing the gianng effects of any lamp in the lowest
 point; consistent with it's design, how ever. l Every electric headIanp consists of a parabolic reflector in which is noun ited an electric. bulb. If the filament
 of the bulb is placed at the focal i point of the parabo1a, the light will be reflected in the form of almost parallel rays. The filanaents of electric 1 bulbs are not math eInatica1 points, but cover relatively large area, whereas the reflector is designed upon the te- ory that the source of light is merely l a point. Therefore, even with the best | pOSS1D1S aQJQSlLn0IL OA L44C light is projected at an angle depend on the eompactness of the hlament. F1laments of electric bulbs that are 1 loosely wound cover 8 considerable area and are the ones most apt to spread the light on the road in the form of rings, while ,filaments of small area such as those employed in the new nitrogen bulbs, are so compact that the projected light takes the form of a small. but powerful beam It is | advisable, therefore, when Purchasing ne4y bulbs. to see that the fi1ament is as compactly formed as possible. Almost all the, electric head lamps have a means for focusing the bulb within the ref1ector-in other words. moving the bulb in or out so that the ilament may be placed at fhf focal point. This adjustment is of great importance, as by locating the bulb in it's proper position the light may be directed in the best possible manner, while shadows" or black spots in the road, may thus be eliminated. After a lamp has been properly, fo- cussed it will be noticed that con- siderable portion of the light rises above the height of the lamps. It is this light which is absolutely useless. land which, as glare becomes ob- jectionab1e to other users Of the high- way. By properly aiming the lamps, however, this difficulty may bel argely obviated.
 When the bulbs are properly fo- cussed the car should be placed oA al level road and the lamps tilted for ward so that the upper part of the beam of light does not rise more than
 42 inches above the road. saI mention this articular height for the rays be- cause members of the Society Of sA1- tomobi1e Engineers have recommend- ed that height as a standard setting , for headlamps. Bending the props that support the lamp to aim it prop erIy is an easy matter if large monkey wrench. or a piece of pipe, is used the props being bent suff1cient1y 1 so that the light is not intense. How position. l Acetylene lamps do not cause any great amount of glare, as a rule, be- cause the gas flame covers a consid- lerable area, for a given candIepoWer, ] so that the1 ight is not intense. How ever, in the majority of cases the po- sition of the acetylene lamp may be [ so adjusted, as in the case of the elec- trfc lamp. so as to. f11pr the degree of road i1Iunainatfon and at the same time minimize the glare.
 l Proper adjustment of the headlights 1 is a two-fo1d benefit~to the user. Not only does it improve his own view of the road, by increasing the i1lunina- ton immediately in front of the car,
 but the more brilliant light on the Toad has the effect of reducing the glare of other lamps by reducing the 1 contrast between lighted and unltght- ed parts of the operators field of 1 view.
 r Municipalities, such as New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Baltimore; and the state of New Jersey, have re-
 stricted the. use of glarings headlamps
 on automobiles by law or-erdinance,
 and something must be done in the
 state of Connecticut to abate this nui-
 sance. I do not want ito appear un- reasonable, therefore, I ain suggest
 ing a means that has been proposed 1 by automobile, experts, whereby it
 may be possible to remedy a condition