HEADLIGHT EFFICIENCY

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20422, 12 February 1938, Page 24 (Supplement)

HEADLIGHT EFFICIENCY

A new Chr'-sler-Plvmouth of bolder desicn—with easier stearin*, safer vision and a score of new luxury features is presented as the 1938 model, marking this popular ear's tenth anniversary. The new Chrvsler-Plymouth leads it s prict field for spacious liodies and roomy interiors, with ample stretching room for six passengers in all sedan models. Inches of extra shoulder room, head room and leg room feature its big nll-sleel body of safety design, built by the pioneers of this method of rnnslruction. Stylists have given the 1938 car an entirely different appearance, of massive size.

WORTH-WHILE PROGRESS Although little publicity is centred on the steady improvement made in the efficiency of the headlights of automobiles, really worth-while progress is being made. The world’s headlamp industry is far from static, and large sums are being expended annually in the march towards still more effective lamps and the reduction of night driving hazards. Unfortunately, all owners of automobiles do not see that the lighting system of their vehicle' is kept at its maximum efficiency. Regular maintenance and proper use of the modern multi-beam lighting system provides not only more light to see the road ahead, but at the same time, relief from glare. Increasing the brightness of road hazards is one of the main objective’s of the designers of modern automobile lamps and that calls for more light in the headlamp beam. This means the use of bulbs of larger candlepower. In many countries, there is a legal limitation that prevents the use of higher wattage bulbs, based on the assumption that such limitation provides protection against lamp dazzle'. NO CONNECTION According to the manager of the United States of America Society of Automotive Engineers .). A. C. Warner;, actually there is no necessary connection between bulb candlepower and glare, and he makes the following explanation why such is the case:— "Due to the concentrating effect of the relleolm*, the lamp engineer can take a 32 candlepowe’r bulb and produce cnndlepowers in the beam projected by the lamp of 10,000, 25,000 or more. Similarly, with a 50 candlepower bulb, by design, he can produce candlepowers in the beam of 10,000, 25,000 or more. What candlepower in the beam amounts to, therefore, is largely a matter of design. Since the

candlepowers in the beam are the important factor from the glare standpoint, it is obvious that placing a legal limit on bulb candlepower has little or nothing to do with the' control of glare. What limitation of bulb candlepower does, however, is to set a maximum on the amount of light the engineer has to work with. Tf he wants to put more light in the high intensity portion of the beam, to make’ hazards down the road visible farther ahead, he can only do so by reducing the amount of light in those portions of the beam which give fnresTOund and lateral Illumination. Similarly, if he wants better foreground nr lateral illumination, he has toPake the light, nut of the high intensity portion of the beam. A present, the legal limit in many of the TJ.S.A. Slates and in other parts of the world, is 32 candlepower. This' actually means that the engineer has about as much light with which to 11- ! luminate an area say 500 feet long by 30 or 40 feet wide, as is provided by a single 00 watt bulb, such as we use in our homes and which we know won’t light even a small room satisfactorily. Fortunately, the'se limitations on bulb candlepower are being rerosmised as unfortunate by forward-looking highway administrators and there are indications that, in some U.S.A. States at least, where 32 candlepower is now

the top. the limit will be raised or eliminated." Views of Experts It is of interest to mention that the concensus of opinion amongst he'adlamp experts nf the S.A.E. (U.S.A.j is that they could provide safer lighting if they were permitted to design lamps for a maximum of 75,000 candlepower in the beam. However, to bring about better results from the headlamps In vogue to-day, it is essential to remember that these fitments re’quire regular' service, just as do other parts of an automobile. Tn general, they do not 2-et it. As a result, a large percentage of headlamps, on the average, do not throw more than half the light on the road that they could if they were in proper cond'tion. Tn many instances, what light they do throw is not projoeted where it will result in the most good. Most up-to-date service houses now have equipment that enables one to quickly cheek up headlamp efficiency. Occasional attention to the' matter means safer night travel and less glare for other road use'rs.

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SPARKS New buses in New York have glass tops so that passengers can see the buildings. Giving evidence at Tottenham Police Court, a witness said it was one of those new cars with the engine at the back running on all fours. "Crawling, in fact," adds the Motor. Between 20 and 30 transport firms in the Blenheim and Nelson district are about to be formed into one big company. This plan is part of a general efficiency scheme and overhaul of the transport system of Canterbury, Westland, Nelson and Marlborough, which has been undertaken by the No. 3 Transport Licensing Authority, Mr T. H. Langford. A French inventor, claims to have produced a carburretter which will make a car doing a mere 20 miles per gallon capable of doing over 130 miles per gallon. We havd heard this claim so often that when it does become a reality—if ever—nobody will believe it. A recent visitor to New York states that traffic continues one of the city's greatest problems. However, it is coped with fairly satisfactorily, considering its tremendous flow during ihe peak hours of the day, by the general use of one-way streets and supplemented police control at the busy intersections. The one'-way streets centainly speed up the movement of cars. Tf the're is any place in the world where silence is golden it is the driver's seat of a motor vehicle. There is a saying, ‘‘When the tongue wags, the mind lags.” Driving a motor vehicle is a full-time job, and cannot safely be combined with other things —not even sight-seeing. Sociability, window-shopping, or Just day-dream-ing—none of these have claim to any place in the driver's seat. A single’ second at 30 miles an hour is 44 feet travelled, and a momentary lapse means that distance and more covered with inattention.

Motor cars are bracketed third important with clothing as necessities for the American citizen in a recent return of the Statistics Bureau of lie Department of the Interior, t-ood and shelter are the first two.