Vehicular Lighting Device

This invention relates to vehicular lighting devices and more particularly to a bulb for use in a lamp of a motor vehicle.

When driving at night, the glare of the light from the headlight of a motor vehicle coming from the opposite direction may daze the driver's eyes and lead to dangerous or embarrassing situations. To prevent this glare, a bulb, referred to as the "H4" type in this field, has been proposed. This H4 bulb comprises a main filament employed during running periods and a submain filament employed when passing by a motor vehicle coming from the opposite direction.

In detail, the obvious normal procedure during night driving is to employ the main filament when a distant place is desired to be viewed and the sub-main filament when passing by a vehicle coming from the opposite direction so that the other driver is not dazed by the glare of the light from the headlight of the vehicle. However, this prior art lamp bulb proves to be insufficient to eliminate the glaring problem.

An object of the present invention is to sufficiently provide a lamp bulb for use in a headlight of a motor vehicle to eliminate the above disadvantage.

A vehicular lamp embodying the bulb of the present invention comprises at least two unleveled metallic bars which are displaced parallel with the longitudinal axis of the lamp, a main filament and a sub-main filament, each end of each filament being securely fixed between the two unleveled metallic bars, a lamp bulb having a shielding means, the lamp being coated with a multi-layer film at the portion corresponding to the sub-main filament, the multi-layer film having illumination of yellow color.

With this invention, during driving at night, while the main filament is employed when a distant place is desired to be illuminated, the sub-main filament is employed when passing by a motor vehicle coming from the opposite direction. In the latter, the beam from the sub-main filament produces yellow light by passing through the multi-layer film coated over the lamp at the portion corresponding to the sub-main filament. Accordingly, the yellow beam does never produces the glare which may daze a driver's eyes and thus, prevents dangerous accidents between vehicles.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become evident during the course of the following description in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bulb of the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a glass tube having a portion coated with a multi-layer film.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the circled portion in FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings, a bulb 1 referred to as H4 type in this field, comprises a glass tube 2 which includes a main filament or running beam filament 3 and a sub-main filament or pass-by beam main filament 4 which are displaced parallel with the light axis or bulb axis. Alternatively, the main filament 3 may be displaced rearwardly of the sub-main filament 4. A shielding plate 5 is mounted below the subfilament 4. The glass tube 1 has the front end thereof coated with a shielding film 6, as paint, having non light-transmittable property and the rear end thereof provided with a mouthpiece 7. Further, the glass tube 2 at the portion corresponding to the sub-filament 4 is coated with a luminous multi-layer film 8 which produces yellow light. The coating with the multi-layer film 8 is referred to as a "Long Wave Pass Filter (LPT)" in this field. The LPT transmits a specified range of long wavelengths and reflects a range of short wavelengths. It is preferred that the surface of the glass tube 2 be coated by vacuum evaporation, with 20 layer films of TiO2 and SiO2 which are deposited respectively and each of which has thickness of less than 100.

During night driving, while the main filament is to be heated to produce the light which is sufficient to illuminate a distant place, the sub-main filament is to be heated when passing by a motor vehicle coming from the opposite direction. In the latter, the beam from the sub-main filament produces yellow light by passing through the multi-layer film coated over the glass tube 2 at the corresponding portion to the sub-filament 4. In detail, the light is reflected and refracted when passing the mediums of TiO2 and SiO2 having different index of refraction. By the interference of each refracted light, the light is effaced or strengthened and produces yellow light. In this example, the light had the wavelength of more than 500 nm and a transmissivity of more than 90%.

As described above, when a motor vehicle, provided with the bulb of the present invention, drives at night and passes by another vehicle coming from the opposite direction, the sub-main filament is to be heated and produces a yellow light which will not the daze driver's eyes, thus preventing accidents.

While in accordance with the provisions and the statutes, there has been illustrated and described the best form of the invention, certain changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth in the appended claim and in some cases, certain features of the invention may be used to advantage without a corresponding use of other features.