Shade arrangement for a dual filament bulb in a vehicle headlamp

A vehicle headlamp capable of emitting an upper beam and a lower beam, comprising:

• (a) a lamp body;
• (b) a lens secured to the lamp body to define a lighting chamber therebetween;
• (c) a reflector disposed in the lighting chamber and aimably mounted to the lamp body, the reflector having a paraboloidal surface generally opposed to the lens, and a pair of substantially opposed flat surfaces disposed between the lens and the paraboloidal surface, the paraboloidal surface of the reflector having a focus in the lighting chamber and an optical axis extending through the lens;
• (d) an electric lighting bulb mounted to the reflector and disposed in the lighting chamber, the bulb having an envelope containing both a primary filament and an auxiliary filament, the primary filament being disposed at the focus of the paraboloidal surface of the reflector for emitting rays of light to be reflected by the paraboloidal surface in order to provide an upper beam, the auxiliary filament being displaced from the primary filament toward the lens for emitting rays of light to be reflected by part of the paraboloidal surface of the reflector in order to provide a lower beam;
• and
• (e) a shade mounted to the reflector and disposed between the bulb and at least one of the flat surfaces of the reflector in order to prevent the light rays emitted by the bulb from falling directly on said one flat surface, the shade being inclined with respect to the optical axis so as to extend in a direction in which the light rays emitted by the auxiliary filament of the bulb travels after having been reflected by said part of the paraboloidal surface of the reflector;
• (f) whereby a decrease in the intensity of the lower beam due to the shade is reduced to a minimum.