The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 12, 1993
Filed:
Sep. 16, 1992
Paul G Mathews, Chesterland, OH (US);
Gary R Allen, Chesterland, OH (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
This headlamp comprises a reflector and a discharge lamp comprising an inner envelope having a longitudinal axis coinciding with the optical axis of the reflector. The inner envelope includes a bulbous portion, a front leg extending along the optical axis from the bulbous portion toward the front of the headlamp, and a back leg extending along the optical axis from the bulbous portion toward the reflector. The discharge lamp further comprises a tubular shroud comprising a first hollow portion surrounding the front leg of the inner envelope, a second hollow portion surrounding the back leg of the inner envelope, and a bulbous portion between the two hollow portions. The front leg is provided with a large-diameter integral enlargement (referred to herein as a 'large-diameter maria'), and the shroud is joined to the front leg by a maria seal located at the outer periphery of this maria. The shroud is joined to the back leg of the inner envelope by a low-profile seal of substantially smaller diameter than the large-diameter maria seal located much closer to the longitudinal axis of the inner envelope than is the large-diameter maria seal. The bulbous portion of the shroud has (i) a back zone facing the reflector of generally ellipsoidal configuration and (ii) a central axis upwardly offset by a small distance from the longitudinal axis of the inner envelope. This offset has been found to substantially increase the ratio of the seeing light to the glare light in the headlamp beam.