When did they start putting on the Alignment tabs on sealed beam headlight

[desoto1939]

This question will probably be answered by someone that has a lot of car history knowledge.

 

This is why I am asking this question.  I am trying to put together a power point presentation for our 2022 National desoto club Convention that will be held in Altoona PA.

 

In 1940 the entire car industry was madated by the Fed Govt to convert from bulb style headlight to the sealed beam headlights.  According to some of my documentation these bulbs or sealed beams number 4030 did not have the three alignment tits that were located at 10,2,6.  from what I can find the approximate time frame was from 1940- approx 1956  and then the three alignment tabs were becoming a standard on all headlights.

 

Any information that anyone has would be greatly appreciated.  So if you have a pre 1956 car and have sealed beams your car if being judged should not have the sealed beam headlight with the three alignment tabs.

 

Thanks,

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com

 

[chrysler1941]

GM started tabs in 1956 with T3 bulbs. I guess others did too. Here's a link explaining tabs

 

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by chrysler1941

[desoto1939]

Chryler1941:  Thank you for this link it is avery interesting video and willprovide alot of info.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com

 

[Andydodge]

My info may upset the apple cart........READ THIS BUT I HAVE MISINTERPRETED RICH'S QUESTION...SEE MY 2ND RESPONSE AFTER THIS 

...........I have had my car since September 1971, I bought it originally as a parts car to help in the rebuilding of an Oz 1940 Dodge D15 Coupe that i purchased in May 1969 and promptly pulled apart as all budding hotrodders aged 15 do........the sedan was too good to part out so I rebuilt it.............anyway both the Coupe and Sedan have the standard D15 factory supplied Plymouth headlight surrounds and more importantly the Plymouth headlight buckets, adjusting mechanism and attachment brackets................. Both these cars came with the 6 volt sealed beam headlights with the 3 locating lugs at the 10/2 & 6 postions which allowed an easy subsitition of regular 12 volt sealed beam headlights when I installed the V8 and updated the Dodge sedan in 1973..........I installed Bosch H4 sealed beam headlights in the mid 1970's and more recently I have installed some aftermarket "Lucas" P600 tribar headlights.............

.............so my experience is that the sealed beam headlights were introduced in 1940 and had the three locating lugs on the headlight attachment buckets from that year ex factory......I have pulled apart another 6 1940 Dodge sedans over the past 45 years and all have had the exact same headlight buckets and fittings without exception......I know this as I have always checked the headlights and components as I have made it a point to check the type of headlight surrounds used as I keep a lookout for the stamped steel 1940 plymouth surrounds as they are always in better condition than the die cast  type.............

................so as ALL the 1940 Dodge cars that I have seen, at least 9 from 1969 onwards have had the same 3 lug equiped headlight buckets then having headlight lens with these same lugs should NOT result in a point deletion as the cars were built to accept these headlights from new....BTW the small pic was taken by me around November/December 1971 and shows the 6 volt sealed beam headlight.

.............Andy Douglas      

Edited August 6, 2021 by Andydodge
more info

[desoto1939]

From my reading and investigation the three alignment tabs or tits started around 1956 and this is according to the above video on the T3 Headlights.  So yes your car might have been changed over to the 6006 dual headlights and would have had the three alignment tabs.

 

So I have to trust what you are saying about your car becasue you will know more about the history of the car than i ever will.  According to my documentation the 4030 6 volt dual sealed headlights were used from 1940up to 1953 according to my Atlas  replacement Specifications catalog for passenger cars from1938-53.

 

When i did a search on ebay the 4030 bulb which can still be found did not have the three alignment tits.  And in most of the documentation that I can also find about the alignment of headlight for these years it talks about using a wall to align the light with the hot spots and not using the alignment machine

 

I looked in my Miller Factory tool catalog that was published in 1956. This is the first time and i have three other miller tool catalogs that go back into the early 1930-56.

 

They came out with the tool C-3552 Mechanical Headlight Aimer.  This tool had thre automatic gripping fingers that center and align the aimer on both the new and older type sealed beam headlights.  So this implies that before 1956 that the sealed beam headlight di dnot have the three alignment tabs

 

We are getting closer to solving this dilemma

 

Rich Hartung

desoto1939@aol.com.

[Andydodge]

Rich.............I may have misundertook your original statement............I was of the impression that you were referring to the 3 lugs that are on the BACK of the sealed beam headlight globe and allow the lens or globe to fit into the headlight "bucket" which then has a thin brass/steel ring that fits around the globe/lens and has small right angled pieces that lock into small screw heads and is turned maybe 1/2" to lock into a slot capturing this screw and once the screw is tightened it holds the lens/globe into the headlight bucket assembly and can be adjusted accordingly..........However and But

..............BUT......... when in fact you are referring to the 3 lugs that were on the FRONT of the clear lens........so all my ranting and raving is to no end......lol.........and in fact those "T3"  globes/lens/bulbs may in fact have not been seen outside of LHD vehicles and countries as the telling point is the "3 degree" angle of the light to the "right" or curbside  which is what is required for LHD, but opposite for that required for RHD, this angling of the light 3 degrees to the right would place it right in the line of sight of a RHD driver coming the other way and the reason why headlight globes/lens are one thing that is required to be replaced when a LHD vehicle is licenced/registered here in Oz........

...........which unfortunately doesn't answer your original question and I return with my tail between my legs to my corner........lol...........Andy Douglas

[chrysler1941]

10 hours ago, Andydodge said:

....BUT......... when in fact you are referring to the 3 lugs that were on the FRONT of the clear lens........so all my ranting and raving is to no end......lol.........and in fact those "T3"  globes/lens/bulbs may in fact have not been seen outside of LHD vehicles and countries as the telling point is the "3 degree" angle of the light to the "right" or curbside  which is what is required for LHD, but opposite for that required for RHD, this angling of the light 3 degrees to the right would place it right in the line of sight of a RHD driver coming the other way and the reason why headlight globes/lens are one thing that is required to be replaced when a LHD vehicle is licenced/registered here in Oz........

...........which unfortunately doesn't answer your original question and I return with my tail between my legs to my corner........lol...........Andy Douglas

In Scandinavia, Germany and other EU countries, US built dual filament sealed beam headlamps where not considered safe as they share same "bulb".

All imported vehicles where fitted with asymmetrical headlamps with removable bulb. Hella patented these in 1957.  These where also produced for RHD

Edited August 6, 2021 by chrysler1941

[Plymouthy Adams]

Many headlight of EU origin will have a code cast into the prism of the lens stating the country for which this lens /bulb combo is accepted by desgin so to assure the authorities there you are running legit lighting or illegal.  Hella lists these by E# codes and arrow indicating L, R or L/R driving.   If interested, read a bit more here...I have a fair assortment of Hella, Cibie and Lucas PL lights in H4 configuration and they mostly in my Euro cars.  Really nice lights..

 

HELLA headlamp codes. Decoding the combinations

[Andydodge]

This is why I like this forum so much...........thanks guys, good to learn.........andyd 

[chrysler1941]

Correct Plymouthy, I wanted to know when these E numbers started. It was from a so called 1958 agreement although they first started using E markings in the 60s and 70s. 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Forum_for_Harmonization_of_Vehicle_Regulations

 

[desoto1939]

It is so interesting that how a small request for information regarding sealed beam headlights brings out so many informational post with such great knowledge being transferred to everyone.

 

This is a great forum and there is so much knowledge being provided to everyone.

 

I want to thank everyone for their input on this topic and this will be great input into my presentation.

 

Thanks to everyone.

 

Rich Hartung

Desoto1939@aol.com