Apparently dual filament headlight bulbs weren’t available to Ford when the first battery powered headlights where introduced to the Model T in 1919. The solution to providing DIM and ON brightness levels was to use two bulbs in the headlight buckets – one with a low candlepower for DIM and the other of higher brightness for ON. The assumed standard setup looks like the following, where two sockets protruded from the outside of the bucket. The center one housed the bright bulb and the offset one illuminated the dim bulb. A wire ran inside the bucket from the DIM outside connector to the appropriate bulb socket. I’m not sure about the orientation of the reflector as far as where the DIM bulb sat, but I think it hung down from the top. I realize the pictured reflector won’t reflect much light in its present condition, but this shows the orientation I’m thinking about.


I also have a very different two-bulb headlight with only one connection protruding through the bucket. You can see that the exterior socket is not centered in the rear of the bucket, but is placed somewhat lower. From here two wires were routed internally to the two different bulbs. Close up inspection shows a Ford script on the bucket and on the reflector, along with the supplier name Gray and Davis.



Lastly, of interest with these two-bulb headlight designs is that neither had a focus adjusting screw for the center bulb. Both also have the early square cut mounting flange where they attach to the front fender iron, typical of the 1915-17 design.

Most likely different suppliers had their own way of meeting Ford’s specs on these headlight. I just found it interesting and wanted to share and get feedback.

Rich C.