An Illuminated History of the Headlight

AN ILLUMINATED of the HISTORY D HEADLIGHT A LOOK AT WHAT'S BEEN LIGHTING THE ROAD AHEAD SINCE THE 1880S ASTAPPONA BROUGHT TO YOU BY FIRCROFT ALL THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR THE JOB. then THE ell begin 1880s JUST GAS AND OIL - NOT A CIRCUIT IN SIGHT The first examples of automotive lighting were essentially Acetylene or oil fuelled lanterns. A reflective mirror fitted behind a flame would provide limited lighting but the main improvement these lights provided was vehicle visibility, rather than improvements to viewing distance. > FORD MODEL T Early models of Henry Ford's Model T used Acetylene gas lamps. 1908 ELECTRIC HEADLIGHTS BECAME A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME Electric headlights for automobiles were made standard in 1908. The main hold ups in doing this were HIGH AND LOW BEAM based around the cost and difficulty of creating small, portable Around 1910, the Corning Glass Co. introduced the first lens-focused headlight. dynamos powerful enough to produce the required currents to power the electric style lamps invented by Thomas Edison in 1879. IN1906 The General Electric Company patented the first tungston filaments bulbs. Although they gave off only a small amount of light relative to the amount of power consumed, they were revolutionary in their day. .COUNTING THE HOW LONG IT LASTS - %1962 SAY HELLO TO HALOGEN The Beatles of the headlight world. First unveiled in 1962, Halogen lighting soon became a game changer. The lights were made mandatory very quickly throughout Europe and are still used by most automakers. The main benefit that Halogen brought was the ability to produce more light than traditional sources whilst using a similar amount of power. 55W 1820 65W 2100 lumens lumens 55W I 1550 lumens Н1 H2 Н9 1962 1964 PRESENT DAY EVOLUTION IN PERFORMANCE OF THE HALOGEN BULB | 1991 O XENON SUPER BRIGHT The created beam contains HOW LONG ultraviolet rays, making reflective road signs much more visible. HID 2000 Also known as High-Intensity-Discharge (HID) headlights, Xenon lights were an innovative but controversial stage in the hours on average evolution of vehicular lighting. They were named after the inert THE HOURS gas they utilise to amplify light created by electricity jumping between two electrodes. It is this process that creates the impressive but hotly debated dazzling, bluish beam. Xenon The average service life of an HID lamp is 2000 hours. A vast lights don't use a filament, which increases their expected improvement on Halogen bulbs. lifespan to around 2000 hours. HOW XENON BULBS COMPARE 35W to 38W 2800 to 3500 lumens 2008 LED Introducing next generation of super efficient headlights the An LED (light-emitting diode) is a semiconductor light source that produces light through an effect called electroluminescence. With LED technology improving rapidly, the performance of LED headlights is expected to develop to a point where it dwarfs the competition in terms of efficiency, output, reliability and cost. This new technology has created many new jobs that Fircroft HOW LONG IT continues to help the UK's major automotive manufacturers to fill. LED (A QUESTION OF 250,000 LOW OUTPUT TEMPERATURE hours on average LED fixtures have to be equipped with heatsinks THE HOURS or similar solutions for thermal issues. Heat is produced at the rear of the emitters, rather than HIGH OUTPUT along with the light. The performance of LEDS COMES NEXT varies with temperature. FIRCROFT LIGHTING THE WAY IN AUTOMOTIVE RECRUITMENT VISIT US AT wwW.FIRCROFT.COM/AUTOMOTIVE-JOBS HOURS 00 hrs 1880s * 450 1890s 1900 O 1920s – 1930s –1940s – 1950. 1960s 70 1980 IT LASTS-C S.COUNTING 1990. IT LASTS 2000 think? what do SO WHAT