Lambert (automobile)

The Lambert automobile and Lambert truck were built by the Lambert Automobile Company as an American vehicle from 1905 through 1916. The Lambert automobile motor in the early part of manufacturing moved around on the chassis. It was on the back of the chassis, then in the center, then to the front, and back again to the rear of the automobile. The early motors were built at the Lambert factories of the Buckeye Manufacturing Company and later they were outsourced to other proprietary manufactures.

The Lambert chassis of the high end employed a three-point suspension to save driving power by decreasing the lift required of the automobile body because of road surface variations. It saved wear and tear on the automobile body and its parts. The others used ordinary suspension. Sometimes a shaft drive was provided on some models, however most Lambert automobile models were with a chain drive to the rear axle.

The Lambert automobile chassis with the gearless friction drive speed change transmission was the basis for the Lambert automobiles and trucks built from 1906 through 1916. The valve action of the engines were hardened steel cams that were applied to the cam shaft. The cam faces were slightly convex, and worked on hardened rollers, carried in swinging forks, which bore against square ended sliders. The valves were alumimum heads driven to shoulder on riveted steel stems. The valve action was direct with no side action on the sliders. The compression was between 50 to 55 pounds of pressure.

The Lambert opposed cylinder motor had a number of features not usual in that form of gas engine in that era. For example, the oiler was of the precision variety, in which a ratchet actuated worm drive a worm gear carrying a spring actuated oil force pump successively over the oil leads to be supplied, the plunge spring being compressed by a circle of wedges, and the rise from each compression being regulated by an individual temper screw. Oil leads dropped oil on the crank wrist rod ends. The cranks had full disk arms and the crank shaft journals ran in bronze bearings.

Lambert came in second in an automobile race conducted in July 1905 from Chicago to St. Paul. There were a total of 53 automobiles entered into the race and Lambert's was the only gasoline powered automobile to finish. The success of Lambert's 16 horsepower (12 kW) automobile against others of 40 horsepower (30 kW) was attributed to the Lambert friction gearing disk drive transmission. Some of the models of the Lambert automobiles and trucks are described below.

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