Lambert friction gearing disk drive transmission

The Lambert friction gearing disk drive transmission was invented by John William Lambert originally in 1904. The invention relates to a friction disk drive transmission for automobiles that is gearless. He saw the need for a simple transmission of engine power to an automobile's drive wheels.

The main or driving disk is faced with a disk of aluminum. The driven disk has a working rim of elastic fiber. Lambert says in the invention, In practice I have found that this combination of aluminum and fiber bearing surfaces gives the maximum degree of friction and durability, thereby especially adapting the gearing for use on motor vehicles of the heavier kind, where the friction surfaces are at times subjected to great strains, and must, therefore, have a frictional contact of a high degree of efficiency in order to avoid slipping. It will be observed that the aluminum is advantageous also, because it will not tarnish or rust appreciably, but will always present a smooth, clean surface to the fiber periphery, so that wear will be reduced to a minimum.

The friction disk drive was one of the key features of the Union automobile and Lambert automobile. Lambert started making the friction disk and traversing pinion drive in 1900. The first attempt was with a leather faced disk and an iron friction wheel. It had an eighteen inch diameter with a one and a half inch face. With this first attempt the leather was charred within the first three miles (5 km) of running it. The disk was then made with a wood fiber about a half inch thick. The material had a glossy surface and worked fine for a while, however it broke up after only 200 to 300 miles (480 km) run. Lambert then conducted various experiments on the friction disk to get better performance. In one experiment a cone of cast aluminum was used as one member of a level friction drive with excellent results. Lambert then realizing that the pull was due to the aluminum itself, a disk was faced with it and the traversing wheel with strawboard. This accidental discovery made Lambert automobiles more successful than other cars that attempted at friction driving.

The aluminum disk was twenty-two inches in diameter and was faced with an aluminum disk of equal size with a facing of just over a quarter of an inch in thickness. The traversing wheel was eighteen inches in diameter with a 1.5-inch (38 mm) working face, strawboard rings eighteen inches outside diameter by three inches radial dimension. It was clamped between cast iron members supporting the strawboard rings inside and clamping them sideways. This fibrous friction wheel is splined to slide on a sleeve seventeen inches in diameter variably carried on a steel shaft thirteen inches in diameter. It journaled in swinging boxes so that the wheel can be pressed against or separated from the iron, aluminum-faced driving disk, which is motor driven.

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