FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970 (39 of 1970)
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2006
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles
APPLICANTS
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Gateway Building, Apollo Bunder, Mumbai 400 001, Maharashtra, India, an Indian company
INVENTORS
Chinnathambi Manikandan, 8, Koodalinga Nadar Street, Thiruthangal, District- Virudhunagar, Pin- 626130, Tamil Nadu, P S Rajram, 12, 11th Cross Street, Annanagar, Chengalpartu, District-Kanchipuram, Pin- 603001, Tamil Nadu, and M Satyanarayana, Srinivasa Nilayam, Ponnur, Andhra Pradesh, all Indian nationals
PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to head lamps in an off-road vehicle and more particularly, to an operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamps reflector of the off-road vehicles.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BACKGROUND ART
In off-road vehicles or work vehicles, especially farm tractors, head lamps are generally mounted on a bonnet by known methods and mechanisms. The head lamps mounted with the help of mounting supports remain stationary within the bonnet when mounted therein. Constructional layout of a typical headlamp majorly comprises of a head lamp casing/housing that has an adjustable reflector operably arranged with a light emitting device such as bulbs, LEDs, etc., and suitably positioned within the casing. Further, the head lamps also include a reflector adjusting means that is operably connected to a backside of the reflector and suitably positioned within the casing. Appropriate arrangements are also made within the casing of the head lamps so that the reflector adjusting means could be accessed by an operator from outside for carrying out maintenance and focus adjustment activities. The reflector adjusting means is capable of adjusting the reflector, which is primarily responsible for focussing the light emitted by the light emitting device, in upward and downward directions along a vertical plane. Adjustment of the reflector along the vertical plane allows the reflector to appropriately align the focus of the throw of the light on target areas.
It is desirable that the head lamps are mounted within the bonnet in such a manner that the reflector is not disturbed when the farm tractor is operating on rough terrains and landscapes,

otherwise the focus of the thrown light may be misaligned. However, there may be instances when the reflector may be disturbed for example when the farm tractors have work implements or trailing loads attached on its rear side. The farm tractors while operating with such implements and loads exert a draft load on the farm tractor due to which the farm tractor experiences severe jerks and disturbances. Such jerks become more prominent if the farm tractors are operating on rough terrains and landscapes. As a result of these jerks, the centre of gravity of the farm tractor is altered and that may lead to the misalignment of the focus of the head lamp. Misaligned focus of light thrown on the road may be quite critical for the safety of the driver especially during dark conditions. Further, while the driver is travelling in populated area during dark conditions, misaligned focus may also cause glare and visibility problems to the upcoming driver. Such adverse situations are at best desired to be avoided by appropriately adjusting the head lamps and the reflector.
A common way of adjusting the headlamp and the reflector is that the driver or the operator identifies the level to which the misalignment has occurred and then climbs down from the driver's seat and opens the bonnet having the attached head lamp. Upon opening the bonnet, the driver reaches out to a back portion of the head lamps and the reflector adjustment means. Proportionate to the identified misalignment, the driver adjusts the head lamp and the reflector actuating means. The adjustment may be continued by the driver till the time the throw of light is properly focussed. The entire process of adjusting the head lamps and the reflector is carried on every time the focus of the thrown light is misaligned.

Such adjustments require a lot of human effort because the adjustment system for head lamps is present within the bonnet which needs to be opened anyhow for accessing the head lamps and reflector adjusting means. Further, the operator cannot see the alignment of focus in real time as the head lamps face the sky when the bonnet is opened and adjusted. During dark conditions, finding proper location of the head lamps and its proximal areas becomes a cumbersome task as many of the farm tractors are not provided with service lamps. Another very important limitation in the head lamp adjustment is that reflector is generally only adjustable along the vertical plane to take care of upward and downward misalignments of the reflector. However, adjusting the reflector in sideways direction along a horizontal plane to take care of left and right misalignments of the focus still remains an area where development is needed.
As such there is an urgent need to develop operating mechanisms that addresses at least some of the above noted limitations and yet adjusts the reflector along both the vertical and horizontal planes.
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of the various embodiments of the invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a head lamp mountable within a farm tractor and showing a portion of an operating mechanism for aligning a reflector of the head lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is rear side elevational view of the head lamp of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of the head lamp of FIG. I showing a first gear assembly of
the operating mechanism for adjusting the reflector along a vertical plane; and
FIG. 4 is another view of the head lamp of FIG. 2 showing a second gear assembly of the
operating mechanism for adjusting the reflector along a horizontal plane.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles comprising: a first gear assembly disposed on the rear side of the head lamp comprising: a first small gear; a first large gear; a first intermediary shaft operably connecting the first small gear to the first large gear; a first main shaft operably connecting the first large gear to the top portion on the back surface of the head lamp reflector; and a first tube disposed on the top surface of the housing of the head lamp and extending to a front portion of the first small gear; and a second gear assembly disposed on the rear side of the head lamp comprising: a second small gear; a second large gear; a second intermediary shaft operably connecting the second small gear to the second large gear a second main shaft operably connecting the second large gear to the bottom portion on the back surface of the head lamp reflector; a second tube disposed on the top surface of the housing of the head lamp and extending to a front portion of the second small gear; wherein when the first small gear is actuated through the first tube, the first intermediary shaft rotates thereby rotating the first large gear which further rotates the first main shaft allowing the reflector to be tilted in a vertical plane; and when the second small gear is actuated through the second tube, the second

intermediary shaft rotates thereby rotating the second large gear which further rotates the second main shaft allowing the reflector to be tilted in a horizontal plane.
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1 shows a head lamp 100 having a mechanism for adjusting a reflector 102 of the head lamp 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The head lamp 100 includes housing 104 within which one or more light emitting devices, such as a bulb or an LED (not shown), may be fitted on a holding device 106. The reflector 102 is also seen to be positioned behind the holding device 106. The reflector 102 has a plurality of reflecting sections 108 that are designed in such a manner that once the light emitting device glows, the plurality of reflecting sections 108 reflects the emitted light so as to form a concentrated focussed light. When the farm tractor (not shown) is in operating condition, the focussed throw of light hits the target areas which the driver is able to visualize. The head lamp 100 has a front side 110 and a rear side 112 with the front side 110 of the head lamp 100 having a transparent surface (not shown) attached thereon. The transparent surface may be in the form of a glass or a plastic through which a focussed light is transmitted outside the head lamp 100. The transparent surface may be formed of a matching profile as that of peripheral edges 114 on the front side 110 of the head lamp 100. As seen in FIG.l, the housing 104 has a depth that may be inserted through the rear side 112 of the head lamp 100 within an appropriate space within a bonnet (not shown) of the farm tractor. The head lamp 100 is securely fastened to the bonnet through mounting brackets 116 extending from the front side 110 of the head lamp 100 and disposed adjacent to the front peripheral edges 114 thereof.

The head lamp 100 also has an operating mechanism (FIGS. 3 and 4) through which the reflector 102 of the head lamp 100 is adjusted if the focus of the thrown of light is misaligned. The operating mechanism comprises of a first gear assembly 118 and a second gear assembly 120 used for controlling the alignment of the reflector 102 in a vertical plane and a horizontal plane, respectively. In the vertical plane, the reflector 102 is adjusted in upward and downward direction to adjust vertical alignment of the focus of the thrown light. Whereas, the reflector 102 is adjusted in sideways, along the horizontal plane, to adjust the horizontal alignment of the focus of the thrown light. The sideways adjustment of the focus of light may also be understood as the left hand (LH) and right hand (RH) adjustment. FIG. 2 shows a rear side 112 view of the head lamp 100 wherein a rear portions of the first gear assembly 118 and the second gear assembly 120 is shown.
The first gear assembly 118, as shown in FIG. 3, comprises of a first small gear 122 and a first large gear 124 operably connected with each other through a first intermediary shaft 126. The first large gear 124 is further operably connected to a first main shaft 128 that further operably connected to a back surface 130 of the reflector 102. The combination of the first small and large gears 122, 124 and the first intermediary shaft 126 are positioned at the rear side 112 of the head lamp 100, whereas the first main shaft 128 is insertable within the housing 104 of the head lamp 100 and operably connected to a top portion 132 on the back surface 130 of the reflector 102. As seen in FIGS. 2 arid 3, the first small gear 122 is arranged in such a manner on the rear side 112 of the head lamp 100 that the first small gear 122 projects outside the top surface 138 of the housing 104, The first small and large gears 122, 124 and the first intermediary shaft 126 are disposed outside the head lamp 100 and may be subjected to dust and pollutants. In order to

restrict entry of such external pollutants within the combination of first small and large gears 122, 124 and the first intermediary shaft 126. a protecting cover 134 is mounted over this combination and fixed to the rear side 112 of the lamp.
Reference is now given to FIGS. 1 and 3 in which a first tube 136 is shown to be attached to a top surface 138 of the housing 104 and connected to a front portion 140 of the first small gear 122. When alignment of the reflector 102 of the head lamp 100 is required, the driver/operator of the farm tractor, without turning off the head lamp 100 and without opening the bonnet of the farm tractor, would only have to insert a leading end of a screw driver (not shown) within a front end 142 of the first tube 136 so as to access the gear teeth 144 of the first small gear 122. The length of the first tube 136 may be chosen suitably so that upon inserting the screw driver, the leading end of the screw driver passes through a trailing end 146 of the first tube 136 to contact the teeth of the first small gear 122. Upon rotation of the screw, in either clockwise or counterclockwise directions, the first small gear 122 rotates resulting in actuation of the first intermediary rod. Due to this actuation, the first large gear 124 is caused to rotate. As the first large gear 124 is operably connected to the first main shaft 128, rotation of the first large gear 124 allows actuation of the first main shaft 128. The first main shaft 128 is held within a first bracket 148, which is attached to the top portion 132 of the back surface 130 of the reflector 102, and capable of describing a guided reciprocating motion within the first bracket 148. It would be understood that rotation of the first small gear 122 in either clockwise/counter-clockwise directions allows guided reciprocal motion of the first main shaft 128 would within/outside of the first bracket 148. As seen in FIG. 3, the inward movement of the first main shaft 128 would allow the first bracket 148, and therefore the reflector 102, to be tilted in forward direction along

the vertical plane. Similarly, any outward movement of the first main shaft 128 would allow the first bracket 148. and therefore the reflector 102, to be tilted in rearward direction along the vertical plane. Accordingly, the focus of the throw of light may be adjusted vertically so that the target areas are clearly visible to the driver. It is to be noted that instead of screw driver other similar devices could also be used and should be considered to be within the scope of the present invention.
The second gear assembly 120, as shown in FIG. 4, comprises of a second small gear 150 and a second large gear 152 operably connected with each other through a second intermediary shaft 154. The second large gear 152 is further operably connected to a second main shaft 156 that is operably connected to a bottom portion 158 of the back surface 130 of the reflector 102. The combination of the second small and large gears and the second intermediary rod are positioned at the rear side 112 of the head lamp 100, whereas the second main shaft 156 is insertable within the housing 104 of the head lamp 100 and operably connected with the bottom portion 158 of the reflector 102. As the first main shaft 128 is operably connected to the top portion 132 of the reflector 102 and the second intermediary shaft 154 operably connected to the bottom portion 158, a skilled person would understand that the length of the second intermediary shaft 154 is longer than that of the first intermediary shaft 126 (See FIG. 2). The second small gear 150 is also arranged in such a manner on the rear side 112 of the head lamp 100 that the second small gear 150 projects outside the top surface 138 of the housing 104, As understood from FIGS. 2 and 4, the second small and large gears and the second intermediary rod are disposed outside the head lamp 100 and may also be subjected to dust and pollutants. Similar to as noted above, the

combination of second small and large gears and the second intermediary rod, a protecting cover 160 is mounted over these and fixed to the rear side 112 of the lamp.
Further, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 4, a second tube 162 is shown to be attached to a top surface 138 of the housing 104 and connected to the front portion 140 of the second small gear 150. The second tube 162 is positioned substantially parallel to the first tube 136. When alignment of the reflector 102 of the head lamp 100 is required, a skilled person would only have to insert a leading end of the screw driver within a front end 164 of the second tube 162 so as to access gear teeth 166 of the second small gear 150. The length of the second tube 162 may be chosen suitably so that upon inserting the screw driver, the leading end of the screw driver passes through a trailing end 168of the second tube 162 to contact the teeth of the second small gear 150. Upon rotation of the screw, in either of the clockwise or counter-clockwise directions, the second small gear 150 rotates resulting in actuation of the second intermediary rod. Due to this actuation, the second large gear 152 is caused to rotate. As the second large gear 152 is operably connected to the second main shaft 156, rotation of the second large gear 152 allows actuation of the second main shaft 156. The second main shaft 156 is also held within a second bracket 170, which is attached to the rear side 112 of the reflector 102, and capable of describing a guided reciprocating motion within the second bracket 170. It would be understood that rotation of the second small gear 150 in either clockwise/counter-clockwise directions allows guided reciprocal motion of the second main shaft 156 would move within/outside of the bracket. As seen in FIG. 4, the inward movement of the second main shaft 156 would allow the second bracket 170, and therefore the reflector 102, to be tilted in LH direction along the horizontal plane. Similarly, any outward movement of the second main shaft 156 would allow the second bracket 170, and

therefore the reflector 102, to be tilted in RH direction along the horizontal plane. Accordingly, the focus of the throw of light may be adjusted vertically so that the target areas are clearly visible to the driver.
A skilled person in the art would appreciate that the' above noted embodiments reduces the human effort to large extent because in order to align the focus of the thrown of light, there is no need to open the bonnet of the farm tractor. Further, the driver/operator is able to see the alignment of focus in real time while carrying out adjustments and alignment because the head lamp 100 are accessed from outside. Additionally, embodiments of the present invention adjusts the reflector 102 in both vertical and horizontal planes to align the focus of the light in upward and downward directions as well as in left and right directions.
The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below. Although the present invention is shown in a limited number of forms, it is not limited to just these forms, but is amenable to various changes and modifications.

Claims:
1. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles comprising:
a first gear assembly (118) disposed on the rear side (112) of the head lamp (100) comprising: a first small gear (122); a first large gear (124); a first intermediary shaft (126) operably connecting the first small gear (122) to the first large gear (124); a first main shaft (128) operably connecting the first large gear (124) to the top portion (132) on the back surface (130) of the head lamp (100) reflector (102); and a first tube (136) disposed on the top surface (138) of the housing (104) of the head lamp (100) and extending to a front portion (140) of the first small gear (122); and
a second gear assembly (120) disposed on the rear side (112) of the head lamp (100) comprising: a second small gear (150); a second large gear (152); a second intermediary shaft (154) operably connecting the second small gear (150) to the second large gear (152); a second main shaft (156) operably connecting the second large gear (152) to the bottom portion (158) on the back surface (130) of the head lamp (100) reflector (102); a second tube (162) disposed on the top surface (138) of the housing (104) of the head lamp (100) and extending to a front portion (172) of the second small gear (150);
wherein when the first small gear (122) is actuated through the first tube (136), the first intermediary shaft (126) rotates thereby rotating the first large gear (124) which further rotates the first main shaft (128) allowing the reflector (102) to be tilted in a vertical plane; and when the second small gear (150) is actuated through the second tube (162), the second intermediary shaft (154) rotates thereby rotating the second large gear (152) which further

rotates the second main shaft (156) allowing the reflector (102) to be tilted in a horizontal plane.
2. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim lf comprises a first bracket (148) attached to the top portion (132) on the back surface (130) of the head lamp (100) reflector (102) wherein one end of said first main shaft (128) connecting the back surface (130) of the head lamp (100) reflector (102) is held within the first bracket (148).
3. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 1, comprises a second bracket (170) attached to the bottom portion (158) on the back surface (130) of the head lamp (100) reflector (102) wherein one end of said second main shaft (128) connecting the back surface (130) of the head lamp (100) is held within the second bracket (170).
4. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 1, comprises a first protecting cover (134) mounted over the first gear assembly (118) and fixed to the rear side of the head lamp (100).
5. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 1, comprises a second protecting cover (160) mounted over the second gear assembly (118) and fixed to the rear side of the head lamp (100).

6. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first small gear (122) is arranged on the rear side (112) of the head lamp (100) projecting outside the top surface (138) of the housing (104).
7. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second small gear (122) is arranged on the rear side (112) of the head lamp (100) projecting outside the top surface (138) of the housing (104).
8. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 1, wherein length of said second intermediary shaft (154) is longer than that of the first intermediary shaft (126).
9. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 1, wherein said first small gear (122) is actuated by inserting a screw driver in said first tube (136).
10. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 9, wherein length of the first tube (136) is chosen suitably so that upon inserting said screw driver, the leading end of the screw driver passes through a trailing end (146) of said first tube (136) to contact the teeth (144) of said first small gear (122).

11. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 1, wherein said second first small gear (150) is actuated by inserting a screw driver in said second tube (162).
12. An operating mechanism for adjusting and aligning head lamp reflectors of off-road vehicles as claimed in claim 9, wherein length of the second tube (162) is chosen suitably so that upon inserting said screw driver, the leading end of said screw driver passes through a trailing end (168) of said second tube (162) to contact the teeth (166) of said second small gear (150).