Eye-shading means for automotive vehicle operators
First Claim
1. A structure for individually but simultaneously shading the eyes of a vehicle driver against the blinding effect of the sun and of approaching vehicle headlights, consisting ofa. a linear eye-shading screen composed of a series of contiguous, normally transparent but electrically darkenable zones adapted to be situated between the driver'"'"'s eyes and the sun, each such zone being wide enough when darkened, effectively to obviate the glaring effect of the sun upon one eye of the driver,b. a linear array of contiguous photosensitive sensor cells equal in number to the number of electrically darkenable zones of the eye-shading screen and disposed physically in parallelism with the eye-shading screen and in positions in which they may be exposed to the sun and to approaching headlights,c. sensor shielding means located in front of the array of sensor cells in position selectively to differentiate uniformly spaced sensor cells and uniformly spaced pairs of adjacent sensor cells from the remainder of the sensor cells as to shading, andd. electrical control means electrically cross-associating individual sensor cells of the sensor cell array and individual electrically darkenable zones of the eye-shading screen in such manner that the differentiated electrically darkenable zones of the eye-shading screen will be selectively darkened to shade the respective eyes of the driver.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An eye shade is provided for vehicle drivers which separately but simultaneously shields the two eyes of the driver against the blinding glare of direct sunlight in the daytime or of approaching vehicle headlights at night, while leaving the space between and outside the shielded zones clear. The eye shade desirably consists primarily of a laterally extending series of contiguous substantially vertically disposed, electrically darkenable cells or zones such as liquid crystals, each of which cells or zones has the characteristic that it is transparent when no voltage is applied to it, but that it becomes progressively opaque with increase of applied voltage. The applied voltage is controlled by a laterally extending array of contiguous photosensitive sensor cells, each characterized by the fact that its electrical resistance increases as intensity of light exposure diminishes. The sensor cells are individually cross-associated electrically with several electrically darkenable, liquid crystal cells or zones of the eye shield. In one embodiment, pairs of electrically darkenable cells or zones are rendered opaque by the shielding of their associated sensors against exposure to sunlight or to approaching headlights. Alternatively, spaced pairs of electrically darkenable cells or zones may be rendered temporarily opaque by the exposure of their associated sensor cells to light. In the first instance the associated sensor cell and light darkenable eye-shading zone are connected electrically in parallel; in the other instance, which is preferred, they are connected in series.
48 Citations
8 Claims
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1. A structure for individually but simultaneously shading the eyes of a vehicle driver against the blinding effect of the sun and of approaching vehicle headlights, consisting of
a. a linear eye-shading screen composed of a series of contiguous, normally transparent but electrically darkenable zones adapted to be situated between the driver'"'"'s eyes and the sun, each such zone being wide enough when darkened, effectively to obviate the glaring effect of the sun upon one eye of the driver, b. a linear array of contiguous photosensitive sensor cells equal in number to the number of electrically darkenable zones of the eye-shading screen and disposed physically in parallelism with the eye-shading screen and in positions in which they may be exposed to the sun and to approaching headlights, c. sensor shielding means located in front of the array of sensor cells in position selectively to differentiate uniformly spaced sensor cells and uniformly spaced pairs of adjacent sensor cells from the remainder of the sensor cells as to shading, and d. electrical control means electrically cross-associating individual sensor cells of the sensor cell array and individual electrically darkenable zones of the eye-shading screen in such manner that the differentiated electrically darkenable zones of the eye-shading screen will be selectively darkened to shade the respective eyes of the driver.
Specification