A motor vehicle headlight comprises a reflector, a bulb, a glass, and a direct light mask provided in front of the bulb and mounted on the reflector by at least one generally vertical bracket. The reflector has a reflective surface capable of generating by itself a beam whose light is distributed widthwise in a homogeneous manner, between a zero inclination and a maximum inclination. The reflector has two lateral zones delimited by axial vertical limit-planes passing in the vicinity of the edges of the bracket or brackets, the reflective surfaces of which are such that the radiation changes progressively, from these limit-planes, between an essentially zero horizontal deviation and a divergent horizontal deviation, and a central zone situated between the said limit-planes and capable of directing a substantial part of the radiation away from the transition zones constituted by the edges of the bracket or brackets.

In a method of manufacturing a flux-recovering mirror for a motor vehicle signaling or lighting device a base reflecting surface is provided. Mutually spaced apart base points are distributed in at least one zone of the surface. A randomly determined correcting offset is attributed to each base point so that each base point is associated with a corrected point situated on the normal to the base surface at said base point and located at a random distance from said base point. A corrected smooth surface passing through the corrected points is thus defined in the zone to form a mirror whose reflecting surface in said zone is constituted by said correcting smooth surface. The invention also relates to a headlight fitted with a mirror having properties of distributing images randomly. The invention is also applicable to making light beams more uniform.

A vehicle indicator lamp includes a reflector having a diffusing and reflecting function that increases the lamp fixture efficiency by eliminating the loss of reflected light. The structure includes a reflector 14 having a reflective surface 14a which diffuses and reflects light forward from a light-source bulb 12 arranged in a lamp fixture reference axis Ax, and a transparent lens 16 in front of the reflector 14. The reflective surface 14a is formed such that the inner peripheral edge region 14a1 thereof radiates reflected light in a direction substantially parallel to the lamp fixture reference axis Ax, while the outer peripheral edge region 14a2 thereof radiates reflected light in a direction near the light fixture reference axis Ax. Consequently, the diffused and reflected light from the reflected surface 14a is not blocked by either the light-source bulb 12 or the standing wall 14c of the reflective surface outer peripheral edge, thereby substantially eliminating the loss of reflected light.

A reference parabola is drawn in a vertical plane containing a principal optical axis of a reflector. A reference point of a curve demarcating the right side of a peripheral region of the reflector is set in the horizontal plane containing the principal optical axis. A boundary line of the peripheral region, which is extended along a design line of an outer lens when viewed from the side of a vehicle lamp, is drawn. The end points of the boundary line, and the end points of the reference parabola are determined by an external frame defining outer lines of the reflector viewed from the front side thereof. Of those points, the associated ones are connected by circular arcs, to thereby form a curved surface. The peripheral region forms a part of the curved surface. A region of the reflector intersecting the principal optical axis and continuous to the peripheral region is shaped to have a paraboloid of revolution. A plurality of paraboloids of revolution with different focal distances are set for the peripheral region, to thereby determine intersecting lines where the peripheral region intersects the paraboloids of revolution. A plurality of reflecting steps are disposed on the peripheral region between the adjacent intersecting lines. The reflecting steps are defined by parts of the paraboloids of revolution.

A lamp reflector for a lamp that conforms to a vehicle body shape and method of producing such reflector, including a die therefor. The lamp reflector comprises a plurality of reflecting sections disposed about an optical axis of the lamp. Significant differences in light distribution at the boundaries between the reflecting sections are avoided by using a fundamental surface K of a reflecting surface 3 that may be generated as a free surface so as to conform to a vehicle body shape. After a reference curve is set on the fundamental surface K, several points P, P, . . . are specified on the reference curve. A very small reflecting surface R is determined at the point P according to the law of reflection so that a ray emitted from a light source and made incident on the point P is reflected to become a ray in parallel with the optical axis. Then, a tangential plane T of the fundamental surface at the point P is determined, and an outer product W of a normal vector N.sub.-- T of the tangential plane T and a normal vector N.sub.13 R of the very small reflecting surface R is calculated. A closed curve is generated by performing vector control in which the outer product W is employed as its tangential vector at each reflection point P around the optical axis, and connecting the tangential vectors by spline approximation.