New Britain herald., 1915-12-29
CLEARING HEADLIGHTS
 FOR AUTOS NEEDLESS
Nuisance Can Be Reduced to
 Minimum Of Absolute Safety

That glaring autOmObi headlights are as needless a menace to traffic safety as they are common, is the growing belief among those who have devoted careful study to the subject. Electrical experts and others, after careful consideration have become convinced that the principal source of tomobile headlight is waste light that 1 is projected into the air instead of be- ing concentrated on the road, where it is needed. By eliminating this waste lighting can be developed, while the glare nuisance can he reduced to a minimum of absolute safety.
 Glareless headlights will be given considerable attention by the Society of Automobile Engineers at it's win ter meeting in New York city, Janu- ary 5th and 9th, at which the Electri- cal Equipment Division of the Socie- tvs Standards committee is expected to make important recommendations bearing on the proper construction and application of headlights from the safety or non-glare standpoint. The engineers, among whom are numbered representatives of all the prominent manufacturers of automobiles and equipment in the United States nat urally regard the subject as one of the greatest importance to the industry and have had it under deliberation for l more than a year. From their inves- l legations it has developed that a re- l duction of glare and an improvement | in effective lighting may result from improved methods of constructing 1 both the bulbs and the reflectors in l which they are mounted. At one of , the society sessions Henry Schroeder | will read a paper on electric bulbs, ex- | blaming the characteristics of the l tungsten filament, describing the lat est tendencies in bulb usage and illus trating processes of manufacture.
 | Modification of Equipment.
 l While considering methods of inn proving headlight construction with a lumination, the engineers have recog. nized that any formal measures, such as laws and ordinances, that may be framed with regard to the many thou necessarily be so drawn as to be cap | able of fulfilment with minimum o1 1 hardship upon present users, as vel
 as a maximum effect upon public safe ] ty The Electrical Equipment Divi
 sion of the Standards committee has l therefore, devoted much thought tc the possible modification of present equipment, with the somewhat start. ling discovery resulting that with only minor changes in the way of improved adjustment a majority of the present headlights can be made to yield safe and highly satisfactory alumination
 The result of this conclusion, as em- l bodied in the recommendations upon which the society will act, is a set ot
 practical directions by use of which any motorist can readily adjust his
 lamps in such way as to reduce | their glaring tendencies to an almost negligible degree The two fundamen- tai requirements are that the bulbs be
 properly focused within the reflec- tors and that the reflectors be proper ly aimed. The first adjustment can
 be accomplished by means already
 provided in every lamp, and the sec ond by bending the props on which the lamp Is supported in such a way as to direct the light upon the road a
 stated distance in front of the car.
 The substance of these recommen- dations has been considered favorab bly
 by the Safety First Federation of Am
 erica at it's convention held in Detroit in October. They were also put to a
 practical test by the city of St. Louis
 where many cars were examined b3
 the light testing bureau. The results
 obtained by the bureau were so sue. cessful as to leave hardly doubt ir
 the minds of the city officials tha
 the elimination of glare is only matter of proper adjustment of the
 equipment rather than any drasti
 modification in its construction. A
 established by c. M. Talbert, directo,
 of the Department of Street and Sew CTS of St. Louis, the work of the bu reau was to test and adjust the head
 lights of all cars coming under loca , administration, the cars approved aft
 CT test having an official seal attached
 to the steering wheel. By arrange
 ment with the police the owners of al
 cars so sealed were relieved of an. risk of conflict with tn authorities The cars were tested in a convenien
 tunnel in which a focusing target wa t l erected, and all cars were subjected t. a standard form of examination am their lights adjusted uniformly. A l indicating the highly satisfactory ma s ture of the results obtained, it is sig
 nificant that of the 4,500 cars exam ' ined more than 5000 were at ono sealed by the bureau, the others, fit ted with either gas headlights or be X ing cars of the low-priced order, hay ] ing reflectors so poorly made as t