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MARCH 13TH, 1909. THE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbel > in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall\? propellel > roal > carriage. EDITED BY H . WALTER STANER. No. 699. VOL. XXII .] , SATURDAY, MARCH 13TH, 1909. / PRICE 3n.] The {oyal A.C. Head { amp Trials. A Report to Parliament based on a Serles of Non-competitive Experiments. WE announced on February 13th (page 227) that th e majority of the lamp make rs 1l'e re opposed to the trials of head lamps organised by th e Club because th ey con. id ercd that th e conditions under which it was proposed to hold th em 1Ye re 1rrong, and, moreol'e r, that the result. mig;ht tend t o establi ,h a monopoly for one lamp mani1facturer. \\" e expressed our belief that this attitude was a mistak en one; bu1 there are t 1rn ·ides to e l'e ry question, and th e 1·iell', of one of th e oldest and most important firm . of lamp makers are 11·orthy of every consid eration . We refe r to a lette r 11"hi ch 11·::is . ent to the Societ1· of \ Iotor Manufacture rs and Trade rs some IY eeks ago by Messrs. Lucas, Ltd. They recently furnisk•cl us 11·ith a copy of this lette r for our Oll'n person a l information, and ha l'e 11011" gi1·en th eir ('On se nt to our making it, contents pub li c. The fo l1 01l'i11g excerpts from this letter ll'ill sh011· the ground for Messrs. Lucas's objections to the trial as originally planned. They say: It, will be observed that the outstanding featur e of the proposed tria l is in connection wilh the so-ca ll ed "dazzling effect" of headl ights. Now, there appears to be a con~iderable amount of underlying fa ll a cy about the question, and we think we should briefly deal with it to help to make clear why we do not th ink the proposed trial is advisable. As lamp makers, we have had to meet the continuou cry for '· light , more light," not only from motorist . but from motor cycl ist , and even from ordinary cyclists. and thi s for tile simple reason that motor cars, motor cycles, a nd ordinary cycles generally are more speedy ve hi cles than th ey were even a few years ago. This cry for more light has not yet been over -sati ., fied even if it has been met ~1·i tl1 the best ordinary acetylene lam'ps yet devised. Only dnvcrs of horse-dra wn vehicleE-which of cou rs e, h~ve not inc~ea ~cd their pace-a re apparently sati~fied with then o ld-fash10ned candle lamps, and we take it that the cry against the so-called dazzling effect of headlights has come chiefly from these drivers. We purposely say ·' has co~1e," becau se WC' certainly do not think it is coming qmte as much now as a year or two ago. Our observations make _u s beli e ,'.e that user of th e _road s genera ll y now recog111 se headligh~s as neces.rnry adJuncts to motor car s, and are fast becommg accustomed to both. The underlying fallacy we refer I o consists in upposing it is possible for t.he lamp maker to satisfy the demands of the motorist and at the same time to overcome the objections of horse clrivers,. who think the motorist s' requ irements should not be provided for. It, appear$ to be upposed by rnme motor oritics, and even by some motor ist s them se lve that headlights can be rlevised with power to light up tl1e width of an average road, together with the big and Jjttle objects met wit,h on the road, and yet not appear powerful or bri lliant when such headlights are looked at. The lamp maher wi ll s ucceed in t his the day following th_at on which t he motor engineer makes a speedy car without the necesrnr y horse-power in it. · The_ difficu lty is . increased by the well-known fact to n:iotonsts that headlights are decidedly deficient at the very times they are most ':'an ted. On dark nights and dry, light coloured roads, and with a c lear atmosnhere their oenetrative powe1: ~s a ll th3:t can rE >asonab ly be -desir~d, but t he same head l1 gnts on mghts when the a ir_ is heavy an d misty, and the roa ds ar e b lack and muddy, will often appear la mentably defirient. And this is why motorists generally do not consider they are p1ovided with a superabundan ce of light. But the motorist can generally and easily do much in the way of sho"'ing consideration, say, for horse drivers by slowing down and slightly turning hi s car and headlights aw a y from the approaching vehicle on the few occasions it is necessary to do so. We believe that this is being recognised by motorists as far preferable to eclipsing the light. which, moreover, adds mechanical arrangements which ar e almost certain to be ignored, and then discarded. We may say that we shou ld have no difficu lty in devisi ng s uch machanical anangements if we thought t hey were advisable, but after experimenting with them \\'e have come tothe conclnsion that they are not a solution of whatever diflicult~• there may be. The main beam from a head light is purposely limited by the lamp maker to the width, at' a s uitable distan ce, of an average road , or e11en less, to obtain the necessary penetrative power, and u ers of th e road approaching headlights get out of their mai n beam before reaching tl.El motcr, ?. rd into the weaker rays of greater divergence, whicb have, no dazzling power whatever . And if the motoriFt, on the 1·arely required occasions, s lowsdown anJ slight!) turns hi s car as we suggest, he almosl immediately take;; nis strong beam off the approaching vehicle. For the purpose of this communication, we went. out on the night of January 4th to make some experiment.~ in this connection, and to take measurements, but we soon found tho facts cannot 1.IBefully be reduced to fi g ur es. We doubt if an y other lamp makers have done more, if even as much. as we ham in the way of experimenting and testing variou devices on the road , as well as regularly using motor lamp s under all the natural rnriety of cond i t ion s. And our expet iences ha,·e abundantly 0 proved t ha t artificial test condition are rnry apt to be· sadly misleading. So far, headlights ham developed in their many point .,. which make for efficiency, t hroug h the lively competit ive efforts of lamp makers, and ,~e believe that it is in fi n it e!"' better that this natural progress hould continue·, rather than that the R.A.C. should attempt to set up a few artificial sta ndard by which the lamps are to be judged. We believe the attempt if persisted in will only tend to arrest, or even set back. natural development. and, while we do not wish at present to positively commit ourselves, we would l ik e to ~ay that we doubt whether we shou ld enter into t he com petition ii it should take place. Bnt in saying this we wisl, ,t to be most clearlv understood that we do not intend t he leJst disrespect to tl1e committee of the R.A.C. , for we are quite satisfied the, are onlv desirous of acting with the best of intentions ·ror all co i1 cerned. This letter carries very great weight, because it comes from a firm which has always honest ly tr ied t omake the best it knew not only in design, but in qmlit" of manufacture. We should not attach half t heimportance to it if it came from an inexperienced firm of lamp make rs or one which ll'as makino- lamps which were not like ly to acquit themselves ad~irablv in am· pract ical trial that could be devised. At t'he sam~ time, irre p ective of all other considerations the C luh is bound to hold lamp trials not merely because ir said it would , but on account of th e fact that J\fr. Bums has stated in Parliament that he is waitin" for the result of the Club lamp trials before he give; am fiFial _reply to members and others who allege that t hedazzlmg e ffect of powerful head lights is a need le.,<:. nuisance, and that cand le-power snou ld be recln ce rl'..

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MARCH 13TH, 1909.

THE AUTOCAR B Journal publisbel > in tbe interests of tbe mecbanicall\? propellel > roal > carriage.

EDITED BY H . WALTER STANER.

No. 699. VOL. XXII .] ,

SATURDAY, MARCH 13TH, 1909.

/

PRICE 3n.]

The {oyal A.C. Head { amp Trials. A Report to Parliament based on a Serles of Non-competitive Experiments.

WE announced on February 13th (page 227) that th e majority of the lamp make rs 1l'e re opposed to the trials of head lamps organised by th e Club because th ey con. id ercd that th e conditions under which it was proposed to hold th em 1Ye re 1rrong, and, moreol'e r, that the result. mig;ht tend t o establi ,h a monopoly for one lamp mani1facturer. \\" e expressed our belief that this attitude was a mistak en one; bu1 there are t 1rn ·ides to e l'e ry question, and th e 1·iell', of one of th e oldest and most important firm . of lamp makers are 11·orthy of every consid eration . We refe r to a lette r 11"hi ch 11·::is . ent to the Societ1· of \ Iotor Manufacture rs and Trade rs some IY eeks ago by Messrs. Lucas, Ltd. They recently furnisk•cl us 11·ith a copy of this lette r for our Oll'n person a l information, and ha l'e 11011" gi1·en th eir ('On se nt to our making it, contents pub li c. The fo l1 01l'i11g excerpts from this letter ll'ill sh011· the ground for Messrs. Lucas's objections to the trial as originally planned. They say:

It, will be observed that the outstanding featur e of the proposed tria l is in connection wilh the so-ca ll ed "dazzling effect" of headl ights.

Now, there appears to be a con~iderable amount of underlying fa ll a cy about the question, and we think we should briefly deal with it to help to make clear why we do not th ink the proposed trial is advisable. As lamp makers, we have had to meet the continuou cry for '· light , more light," not only from motorist . but from motor cycl ist , and even from ordinary cyclists. and thi s for tile simple reason that motor cars, motor cycles, a nd ordinary cycles generally are more speedy ve hi cles than th ey were even a few years ago. This cry for more light has not yet been over -sati ., fied even if it has been met ~1·i tl1 the best ordinary acetylene lam'ps yet devised. Only dnvcrs of horse-dra wn vehicleE-which of cou rs e, h~ve not inc~ea ~cd their pace-a re apparently sati~fied with then o ld-fash10ned candle lamps, and we take it that the cry against the so-called dazzling effect of headlights has come chiefly from these drivers. We purposely say ·' has co~1e," becau se WC' certainly do not think it is coming qmte as much now as a year or two ago. Our observations make _u s beli e ,'.e that user of th e _road s genera ll y now recog111 se headligh~s as neces.rnry adJuncts to motor car s, and are fast becommg accustomed to both. The underlying fallacy we refer I o consists in upposing it is possible for t.he lamp maker to satisfy the demands of the motorist and at the same time to overcome the objections of horse clrivers,. who think the motorist s' requ irements should not be provided for. It, appear$ to be upposed by rnme motor oritics, and even by some motor ist s them se lve that headlights can be rlevised with power to light up tl1e width of an average road, together with the big and Jjttle objects met wit,h on the road, and yet not appear powerful or bri lliant when such headlights are looked at.

The lamp maher wi ll s ucceed in t his the day following th_at on which t he motor engineer makes a speedy car without the necesrnr y horse-power in it. ·

The_ difficu lty is . increased by the well-known fact to n:iotonsts that headlights are decidedly deficient at the very times they are most ':'an ted. On dark nights and dry, light coloured roads, and with a c lear atmosnhere their oenetrative powe1: ~s a ll th3:t can rE >asonab ly be -desir~d, but t he same head l1 gnts on mghts when the a ir_ is heavy an d misty, and the roa ds ar e b lack and muddy, will often appear la mentably defirient. And this is why motorists generally do not consider they are p1ovided with a superabundan ce of light. But the motorist can generally and easily do much in the way of sho"'ing consideration, say, for horse drivers by slowing down and slightly turning hi s car and headlights aw a y from the approaching vehicle on the few occasions it is necessary to do so. We believe that this is being recognised by motorists as far preferable to eclipsing the light. which, moreover, adds mechanical arrangements which ar e almost certain to be ignored, and then discarded. We may say that we shou ld have no difficu lty in devisi ng s uch machanical anangements if we thought t hey were advisable, but after experimenting with them \\'e have come tothe conclnsion that they are not a solution of whatever diflicult~• there may be. The main beam from a head light is purposely limited by the lamp maker to the width, at' a s uitable distan ce, of an average road , or e11en less, to obtain the necessary penetrative power, and u ers of th e road approaching headlights get out of their mai n beam before reaching tl.El motcr, ?. rd into the weaker rays of greater divergence, whicb have, no dazzling power whatever . And if the motoriFt, on the 1·arely required occasions, s lowsdown anJ slight!) turns hi s car as we suggest, he almosl immediately take;; nis strong beam off the approaching vehicle. For the purpose of this communication, we went. out on the night of January 4th to make some experiment.~ in this connection, and to take measurements, but we soon found tho facts cannot 1.IBefully be reduced to fi g ur es. We doubt if an y other lamp makers have done more, if even as much. as we ham in the way of experimenting and testing variou devices on the road , as well as regularly using motor lamp s under all the natural rnriety of cond i t ion s. And our expet iences ha,·e abundantly

0

proved t ha t artificial test condition are rnry apt to be· sadly misleading.

So far, headlights ham developed in their many point .,. which make for efficiency, t hroug h the lively competit ive efforts of lamp makers, and ,~e believe that it is in fi n it e!"' better that this natural progress hould continue·, rather than that the R.A.C. should attempt to set up a few artificial sta ndard by which the lamps are to be judged. We believe the attempt if persisted in will only tend to arrest, or even set back. natural development. and, while we do not wish at present to positively commit ourselves, we would l ik e to ~ay that we doubt whether we shou ld enter into t he com petition ii it should take place. Bnt in saying this we wisl, ,t to be most clearlv understood that we do not intend t he leJst disrespect to tl1e committee of the R.A.C. , for we are quite satisfied the, are onlv desirous of acting with the best of intentions ·ror all co i1 cerned. This letter carries very great weight, because it comes from a firm which has always honest ly tr ied t omake the best it knew not only in design, but in qmlit" of manufacture. We should not attach half t heimportance to it if it came from an inexperienced firm of lamp make rs or one which ll'as makino- lamps which were not like ly to acquit themselves ad~irablv in am· pract ical trial that could be devised. At t'he sam~ time, irre p ective of all other considerations the C luh is bound to hold lamp trials not merely because ir said it would , but on account of th e fact that J\fr. Bums has stated in Parliament that he is waitin" for the result of the Club lamp trials before he give; am fiFial _reply to members and others who allege that t hedazzlmg e ffect of powerful head lights is a need le.,<:. nuisance, and that cand le-power snou ld be recln ce rl'..

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