Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-02-28
TO AVOID HEADLIGHT TROUBLE

! Editor Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
/ Sir: If anybody has kept tab on to:
/ auto accidents, rem the minor scrap p
| Ing Of lenders 10 tie actual killing O.
{ human beings, that have occurred
alter dark in THIS city, it will be seen
that nearly all of them have been
4. caused by the dazzling effects Of bril-
iiaat a1to lamps, and In connection
with all this it can be stated that the
! headlight that causes the most dazzle
/ or glare is not necessarily the most
effective and efficient headlight The
lamp, IN its entirety, SO constructed
and adjusted on its standard that il will
direct all or the greater part OF its
rays upon the road surface and not up
into the atmosphere is the most sue
cessful lamp. =. t...~...
II should be remembered by all auto
owners that the object of headlight
! Is to illuminate the road or street, and
, not to show how big a mass OF light
can be scattered around in the air
above the road s~.-
| From more than one accident that
has occurred here, some OF them re-
sulting In death, it has been learned
/ that 1t is positively dangerous to do
any night driving with dimmed or
shaded lights when being approached
, by pair OF glaring head lamps; and
while we have 4 law against I'm.
dimmed headlights, it is unreasonable
to ask any motorist to alter his lamps
unless the law is brought into opera
tion to protect him against the effects
of powerful, undimmed lamps On other
cars.
The auto headlight dlmming law,
like many other laws OF this city, is
being observed by about two.thirds of
the auto owners, while the other one
third apparently don't give a wheop
for any law, and there seems TO be no
intention on the part of the law off,
GERS to force any obedience to the law.
Putting aside all questions Of law or
no law, the writer is convinced that
the majority OF cases of glaring head
lights are the actual results of ignor-
ance on the part of the chauffeur,
rather than a desire TO hog the road"
at night. 50
The deadly glare" of any headlight
can be reduced to minimum if the
driver of the machine will only be-
stow as much attention on the lamps
as he does on the carburetor and other
parts of the engine.
Every electric headlight consists of
a parabolic reflector, at the center of
which is. mounted an electric bulb.
Without going into a detailed account
of filaments, focal points, parallel
rays, angles of projection and mathe-
NAUTICAL compactness, | will simply say
that the moving of the electric bulb
in or out, will produce light rang
ing from parallel beams that sufficient
ly light the road directly in front, to
the spreading of the light In the form
OF rings that blind the sight of an ap-
preaching chauffeur until he has fairly
passed the offending headlights.
After lamp has beedA properly 70.
cussed it will be noticed that con.
siderable portion of the light rises
above the height of the lamps. 1T is
this light that is Objectionable and
positively dangerous to the other users
of the highway. To eliminate this,
place the car on a level road and tilt
the lamps forward so that the upper
part of the light beam does not rise
more than 40 inches above the pave
ment.
Bending the standard that supports
the lamp is very easy matter If a
large. monkey wrench is used. This
proper adjustment of lamps not only
improves the chanifeurs view of the
road directly In front of his car, but it
also has the effect of reducing the
glare of approaching lamps by cutting
out the contrast between the lighted
and unlighted part of the street.
Find the focal point of your lamps
by adjusting the bulb and note the
advantage to all concerned.
CHAUFFEUR.