Patent ID: 7578608

Claim:
A compact headlight for a motor vehicle, giving a light beam with cut-off, having an optical axis and comprising: (a) a housing having a substantially non-reflective interior surface and a front opening; (b) a light source disposed in the housing, the light source having an axial filament disposed along a substantially horizontal axis extending substantially transversely to the optical axis of the headlight; and (c) a lens coupled to the housing and spanning substantially across the front opening of the housing, wherein the lens produces a light beam with cut-off comprising extreme incident light rays emitted by the light source tangent respectively to the rear and to the front extreme contours of the orthogonal projection of the light source filament in a vertical plane passing through the center of the filament and forming an angle with the optical axis, the extreme incidental rays being contained in the vertical plane and being refracted, at the exit from the lens, substantially parallel to the optical axis, and wherein the housing does not comprise a reflector for redirecting light rays emitted by the light source toward the lens.