The sun., 1917-07-01
EXPLAINING THE QUESTION
OF PROPER HEADL LIGHTS
The Twenty6rst of Series of Articles by an Expert
for the Automobile Owner
By WAITER SHIELDS.

the brackets ehould be bent 40 that the
light is thrown on the road and not
In the air Any blacksmith can bend
tho brackets, II indeed the motor car
owner has not big wrench to carry out
the work with himself.
And this brings US to the considera-
tion OF another phase Of the subject.
the various methods OF dimm!ng the
lights to comply with municipal and
state laws. not to mention the laws Of
common courtesy on the road The sim
plest form OF glare remover is found In
the portion OF the lens painted with
some opaque element to cut or the rays
OF light In the upper ranges. This
serves very we'll as far AZ II goes. and
we believe complies with most OF tire
laws on the subject
But this method OF eliminating glare
by cutting of a certain portion of the
light Is wasteful and inefficient. II
solves the problem OF compliance with
the law, but Il deprlves the motorist Of
part OF the illumination that he actu-
ally needs There are many other meth
DDS OF obviating glare without this ac-
companying waste. Let us examine
briefly some OF the more important.
Methods OF controlling glare fall into
several definite classes. depending on
whether the light IL controlled at the
bulb. between the bulb and reflector or
between the reflector and the lens. There
are, Of course. various methods of con-
trolling the light at each OF these points,
so that We might still further subdlvide
the classes 10 we cared to do so.
When the glare removing operation
takes place actually at the bulb II may
take the form OF an actual dimming OF
the light. the color may be changed
amber or green being substituted for
the dazzling white rays. part OF the bulb
may be covered to defect the upper rays
Of light or the bulb may be frosted
When glare removal is TO be ac
complished at the reflector the coloa
may be changed or the upper portion
OF the reflector may be Offset from tina
lower. tending TO throw the upper bea ms
OF light downward on the road. Again
the upper range OF the reflector may
have an inclined axis or other similar
means OF detecting the dazzling beams
When the elimination OF glare takes
lSIce at the lens this part may be Of
some special type of construction that
tends TO defect or diffuse the bright
rays or It may be frosted, which ac-
complishes the same end. Sometimes the
upper part OF the lens may be covered
by a suitable shield, either permanent
or removable. or II may be colored. In
some Of these lens devices the construc-
tion causes a bending or redlrection Of
the brilliant rays
II will be noticed that a change OF
color Is efiicacious, whether the location
OF the glare removing device is bulb.
reflector or lens. There is still another
method Of getting at the trouble, which
is simply fitting the whole lamp down
ward so as to prevent the light rays
from rising above a certain height
We may examine a few of the more
prominent types OF glare removers In
detail so as to point the actual lesson
Of what we have learned In our exami-
nation of the problem in general.
One OF the popular glare removers is
OF the prismatic t.'pe consisting OF a
lens having a smooth outer surface and
horizontal corrugations on the inner
surface These corrugations bend the
brilliant light rays downward no that
! they are thrown on the roac instead Of
into the eyes OF passersby
Another device OF this sort consists
, Of lens containing number of
\ smaller lenses. 176 to be specific, ranged
In a regular pattern. This device is
claimed to diffuse the light and spread
1t fanwise over the road
Sti!l another lens device consists of a
series OF horizontal prisms the function
OF which is to bend the light rays
downward on the road; the lower rays
being detected sharply serve to illumine