Bosch Automotive A product history

16 | Supplement 2 | Journal of Bosch History
The Bosch automotive lighting system
comprised headlights, generator, battery,
and regulator. It formed the basis for
today’s vehicle electrical systems.
not really suitable for everyday use. Its light
output was far inferior to electrical lighting.
What’s more, the driver had to use a complicated
procedure to ignite and extinguish
the light.
Bosch as a systems supplier
Electrical lighting needed a current, but
this was something a battery could only
supply for a limited period of time. Robert
Bosch’s idea was to use a generator to
produce sufficient energy to provide a constant
supply to the battery, where it was
stored and transmitted to the headlights.
The heart of the system was thus the generator
for providing electric current. In the
form of the alternator, this is still the basis
of today’s vehicle electrical systems. Bosch
produced the headlights, generator, and
regulator (then known as a “regulator
box”) in-house. At first, the battery was
purchased from other manufacturers, but
a switch was made to in-house production
in 1922. The launch of the Bosch automotive
lighting system was a milestone for Bosch.
In the past, Bosch had offered individual
components such as magneto ignition
devices. The Bosch automotive lighting
system, by contrast, was an all-in-one system
that saved customers the irksome task
of piecing together the parts they needed.
Instead, they now got all they needed from
a single source, and could be sure that all
the parts were perfectly matched. It is
Milestones
1913 1930 1935 1935 1939 1952
Bosch automotive
lighting system,
comprising headlights,
a generator,
and a regulator
Fog lights
Long-range
headlights
Fitted headlights Headlight aiming
device
Quartz vapor-coated
headlight reflector