A Double-purpose Mirror.
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WE ARE firm advocates of the employment of the rear-view mirror on all commercial motor vehicles, it enables the driver to show courtesy to other road users and to make way for overtaking traffic. There is one difficulty which we have never overlooked-that of making the driver use a mirror when it is fitted. Unless the angle be correctly adjusted to the position of the driver's eyes he may never get into the habit of using the mirror, so that it is, obviously, incumbent upon fleet managers to see that mirrors on vehicles under their charge are correctly adjusted, so that there shall, at least, be some measure of probability that the driver's attention shall frequently be attracted towards the mirror. The newest rear-view mirror to be placed on the market has an extended sphere of usefulness, its second attribute, that of guarding the eyes of the driver against the glare from approaching headlights, being such as would cause the driver to make use of it at night time and thus serve to get him into the habit of using it as a rearview mirror at other times. Perhaps we are unduly pushing ahead of our description, because to say that an accessory is at once a rear-view mirror and an anti-glare guard seems to place an undue stress upon the average credulity. But, it is a fact that the mirror is both opaque and transparent according tocircumstances. The panel made of a blue-grey glass, too dense for
one to see through, except that it will transmit the light from a lamp. A dim light a hundred feet away can scarcely be seen through the glass panel, but the light from a 20 candle-power lamp at that distance is easily seen, and, owing to the absence of any distortional effect, the light is not apparently moved out of position when the vision is shifted to or from the guard.
Thus the Nighthawk (as it is called): serves admirably for an anti-glare guard at night time. In the day time, however, either surface of the glass panel acts as an excellent reflector. Infact, except for a certain "steely character in the surface, it appears as brilliant and as fully reflective as a silvered mirror.
The panel is held in two pressedsteel arms, which grip 'a steel ball joint equipped with a two-plate clip of considerable adaptability to many shapes of pillar or support. Thus, the Nighthawk can be secured wherever convenient and, " en loosening a thumbscrew, it can in a moment be swung into any required position. We can readily imagine the advantage it would offer when driving towards a setting Sun, when the glare is always distressing. The Nighthawk is retailed at 228. 6d., and is sold by Imperial Motor Industries, Ltd., of 11, Denmark Street, London, W.C.2.