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COMBATING THE DAZZLE NUISANCE.

13th July 1926, Page 28
13th July 1926
Page 28
Page 28, 13th July 1926 — COMBATING THE DAZZLE NUISANCE.
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A Promising Design of Anti-dazzle Bulb.

WITH the ever-increasing volume of all-night haulage traffic and the great number of private cars using country roads after night-fall in the winter, the headlight dazzle nuisance becomes more and more serious every year. Special lenses, dimming and dipping systems have been advocated and tried without, it must be confessed, any great measure of success. We were, therefore, more.than usually interested in a new invention, shown to us recently, which has as its object the mitigation of glare whilst leaving the driving light practically unimpaired.

This invention comprises a special bulb, patented by Mr. S. L. Price, which contains two filaments that are lighted together. The main filament is in focus with the reflector of the lamp so that light which is emitted from it strikes the reflecting surface, and is projected forwards in the form of a parallel beam in the ordinary way. The auxiliary filament is in front of the main filament and is surrounded by an amber-coloured shield, through which all the light coming from this auxiliary filament must pass. The shield is held in position by the glass bulb.

The result of this ingenious arrangement is that, so far as the driver is concerned, the light projected from the headlamp takes the form of a white

beam just as usual. To anyone approaching the headlamp, however, it appears to be yellow, owing to the way in which the diffused light from the

B44 auxiliary filament illuminates the reflec tor. Thus, instead of the oncoming driver being met by a pair of glaring white reflectors, he sees two yellow colouredInmps, which give him practically no trouble through glare. This leads to the interesting deduction that, when ordinary headlamps are in use, it is the brilliant reflector which dazzles and not the beam itself.

We have tried one of these bulbs and found it to be very effective, the yellowcoloured appearance of the reflector persisting, no matter from what angle the lamp was viewed. The presence of the shield also prevents direct glare from the main filamentjtself.

The position of the shield, it should be noted, is such that it causes practically no diminution of the power of the headlamp Another good feature is that on lamps with a reasonable range of adjustment the bulb can be brought nearer to the reflector for driving in fog. This has the effect of putting the auxiliary filament in focus so that a beam of yellow-tinted light is produced by the lamp. In the normal course of events, however, when the main filament is in focus, the light does not "mix" in any way, the white beam and the amber-coloured illumination of the reflector by diffused rays being wholly distinct and separate.

We regard this device as very promising, and understand that arrangements are now 13ing made for its manufacture, so that before very long the Price antidazzle bulb will be available for purchase by the general public. It has the merit of not being dependent for its effectiveness upon any action of the part of the driver, and, of course, its antiglare properties are not affected by irregularities in the road, such as are apt to trouble certain anti-dazzle lenses.

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People: S. L. Price

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