Electric lighting equipment on automobiles

R. N. Falge: Mr. Hunt points out that with headlamp beams which meet the I. E. S.-S. A. E. specifications at the B point (175 ft. ahead of the car) the vision of distant objects is interfered with by high road brightness near the ear. It is true that this criticism applies to some of the equipments which meet that specification, but only because they are poorly designed. The fault is not with the intensity directed to the B point but rather because of the excessive intensities directed to the lower angles and striking the road near the car. Such undesirable light distribution is not at all inherent in the specifications. The better equipments follow the S. A. E. Recommended Practice which provides for a relatively high intensity at the B point and a gradual reduction in intensity at the lower angles to provide satisfactory uniformity of road illumination for distances of several hundred feet ahead of the car.