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John William Lambert

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John William Lambert
John William Lambert 1909.png
Born(1860-01-29)January 29, 1860
Mechanicsburg, Ohio
DiedMay 20, 1952(1952-05-20) (aged 92)
Anderson, Indiana
Resting placeEast Maplewood Cemetery
NationalityAmerican
OccupationMechanical Engineer
Known forAmerica's First Successful Gasoline Automobile and the Father of the Gradual Transmission
Spouse(s)Mary (Minnie) F. Kelley
married 1885
ChildrenAlvin Ray and Ethel Mae
Parent(s)George Lambert
Anna Lambert
parents from Pennsylvania

John William Lambert (January 29, 1860 – May 20, 1952) was an American automobile manufacturer pioneer and inventor. He is the inventor of the first practical American gasoline automobile. He operated large manufacturing companies that made transmissions, stationary gas engines, farm tractors, commercial motor trucks, railroad inspection vehicles, and various gasoline driven street cars. He had over 600 patents. In 1891, he built a working gasoline automobile, one year before the Duryea Brothers constructed theirs.

Early life[]

Lambert was born on January 29, 1860, in Champaign County, Ohio. His parents were George Lambert and Anna (Liber) Lambert. They were both natives of Pennsylvania and pioneers of Ohio. Lambert was the third child of ten children in the family.[1] He received his education in the local public schools where he grew up as a child.[2]

In 1876 at the age of 16 Lambert invented the first automatic corn planter and manufactured hundreds of them from his hometown of Mechanicsburg, Ohio.[3] In either 1875[4] or 1876,[5] Lambert's father took him on a trip to a tannery, to see an engine that ran without a steam boiler. Upon arriving, he was disappointed to see that building had burned down the night before. He was curious about the engine he was supposed to have seen in operation, so he investigated the still-warm ashes and ruins to find the burned engine. He found it, and examined its parts to figure out how it worked. It was a slide valve coal gas engine.[4][5]

Mid life[]

In 1885, Lambert and his brothers moved to Union City, Ohio. There, John went into a partnership arrangement with his father, and formed an agricultural implement enterprise called J.W. Lambert & Company. The company made and sold farm equipment. After a few years doing this, he relocated to Ohio City, Ohio. There, he operated a farm equipment store, lumber yard, and grain elevator business. He also owned commercial real estate, including the town's opera house and the town hall.[5][6]

1891: the first workable American gasoline car, made by John W. Lambert.

In 1890, Lambert got involved in financing the development of a three-cylinder gasoline engine designed by John B. Hicks, an inventor from Cleveland. His initial investment was $200 (equivalent to $6,000 in 2020), and more was needed as time went on. Lambert supplied the increments needed, until he had given Hicks $3300 (equivalent to $99,000 in 2020).[5] Lambert made a written agreement with Hicks on the engine, for a license to manufacture it with whatever modifications he felt necessary. He used Hicks' engineers to further modify the design of the engine. Machining was done by Lowell Machine Company. Lambert removed two cylinders, making it a one-cylinder engine. The engine was still not operating entirely correctly after these alterations; in January 1891, he had the unfinished engine and its components shipped to him from Cleveland. Once it arrived in Ohio City, he performed further modifications to make it operational, and designed a unique carburetor to work with the upgraded engine.[5][7]

Lambert 1901 experimental automobile

Also in January 1891, Lambert designed, and started construction on, a three-wheel carriage vehicle.[6] Before the end of the month, he finished the three-wheel buggy and installed his lightweight engine on it for propulsion. He successfully test-drove the self-propelled buggy at that point, inside the 80-foot (24 m) farm equipment showroom he owned and managed in Ohio City. He made some changes to the controlling the front wheel, making it a stirrup device operated by the feet instead.[5][8]

John Lambert and his brothers
in 1902 in a Union Automobile.

The Lambert gasoline engine propelled buggy was the first practical gasoline automobile made in the United States that could be driven on roads.[8][9][10] He made his horseless carriage in 1891,[11][12] and was ahead of the Duryea Brothers by a year and Henry Ford by five years.[13][6] During initial tests, it often took a long time to get the automobile started again after it stopped.[14] The original three-wheel car was destroyed in a building fire where he had it stored; however, photographs taken of it did survive.[4][15] Lambert made sales brochures, which he mailed out in the first part of February 1891, to sell versions of his buggy for $550 (equivalent to $16,000 in 2020).[16] Later in that month, he began to take the buggy on the streets of Ohio City for experimental drives.[6][16] There were about 300 different styles of horseless carriages built by others by 1895.[5]

Lambert's vehicle was drawn up by a German architectural draftsman of Cleveland named William Watcholtz, one of Hicks' engineers.[4][5] The tri-wheeled automobile had 48 in (1,200 mm) rear wheels and a 24 in (610 mm) front center wheel, by which it was steered using foot pedals.[9] It had wooden wheels, with steel tires, and could carry two passengers. Lambert patented his carburetor in 1902.[17] He had inquires for more information on his buggy automobile, but made no sales.[5][18]

Lambert, in 1893, relocated to Anderson, Ohio, taking some of his machinery with him. The new facility, made of brick, occupied around six acres and employed 250 people. It became the Buckeye Manufacturing Company, and the Lambert Gas and Gasoline Engine Company. The facility updated its equipment to manufacture automobiles in 1902, becoming the Union Automobile Company.[5][9] Lambert's father became the president of the new enterprises, and Lambert himself became the treasurer and general manager of these ventures.[2]

Lambert is recognized by the Smithsonian Institution as the inventor of America's first gasoline powered car.[15][19] The institute's museum and research center collections department holds several documents and photographs in Washington, D.C., that have been used by historians over the years to determine Lambert's gasoline buggy, also called the Buckeye gasoline buggy, as the first operational gasoline automobile made in the United States.[20] He is also credited with the first American automobile accident. In 1891, while testing his horseless carriage, Lambert drove it into a tree root[14] and accidentally ran into a hitching post. Lambert was driving the gasoline powered vehicle at the time and carrying a passenger by the name of James Swoveland, a local businessman that operated the city's drug store.[5][14]

There was secrecy surrounding the development of his automobile. Operational tests were conducted with the blinds pulled at the farm implement showroom where he ran it. Outdoor road tests were conducted at night, on roads that were seldom used. The few who saw it were mostly unaware of the machine's nature, due to the horseless carriage being a totally unfamiliar concept.[14]

After World War I, the Union Automobile Company "realized that automobile production had to be conducted on a very large scale"; as it was unable to derive the necessary economy of scale from mass production to price its products competitively, it pivoted to other areas of manufacturing, and as of 1976 still operated factories in Ohio.[6]

Lambert 1907 automobile advertisement with the friction transmission featured in it.
Lambert Automobile Company, 1908

Innovations and patents[]

Lambert held over 600 patents in his career, most to do with the automobile. Some notable examples of his inventions, and patents:[14][21][3]

  • The first gasoline engine automobile in the United States[5][21]
  • A for automobiles[22]
  • A corn seeder that planted three seeds at a time, his first patent (registered in 1876 when he was 16)[1][21][3]

Personal life[]

Lambert married Mary F. Kelly in 1884. She was from Ansonia, Ohio They had two sons, E. Moe and Roy, who were associated with him in business.[2]

Later life and legacy[]

Lambert died in Anderson, Indiana, on May 20, 1952.[14] Lambert Days is a community celebration that honors the life of John W. Lambert, the first gasoline-powered single-cylinder vehicle, and the world's first car wreck. This is an annual three-day event that takes place in Ohio City, Ohio, on the third weekend of July. Activities and events include a car show, art festival, flea market, sporting events, parade, live entertainment, and Lambert automobile displays.[23]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "A Brief Biography of John William Lambert". Archived from the original on February 18, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c Forkner 1914, p. 385.
  3. ^ a b c "John Lambert dies at home". Anderson Herald. Anderson, Indiana. May 21, 1952. p. 1. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  4. ^ a b c d Dolmar, Hugh (1906). "The Lambert, 1906 Line of Automobiles". Automobile Trade Journal. Chilton Company. 10: 225.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bailey, L. Scott (1960). "Historic Discovery: 1891 Lambert, New Claim for America's First Car" (PDF). Antique Automobile magazine. Vol. 24 no. 5. Heuss Printing. pp. 342–347. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-01-14. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  6. ^ a b c d e Anthony Harrigan (December 27, 1976). "American Automobile Changed Our Lives". The Brownsville Herald. Brownsville, Texas. p. 6. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2020 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  7. ^ "Ray Lambert's Essay on his Father's First Car". Archived from the original on February 8, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Madden 2003, p. 2.
  9. ^ a b c "Something New Under the Sun, The History of America's First Car". Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  10. ^ Smith 2002, p. 62.
  11. ^ Benton 1983, p. 517.
  12. ^ "History of cars: [computimes, 2* edition]. New Straits Times". October 4, 2004. ProQuest 271813107. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
  13. ^ James 2005, p. 6.
  14. ^ a b c d e f "John W. Lambert". Ohio History Central. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  15. ^ a b "Lamberts to lead Bicentennial Parade". Anderson Herald. Anderson, Indiana. May 30, 1976. p. 3. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2020 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  16. ^ a b "American's First Gas Auto". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Cincinnati, Ohio. October 20, 1960. p. 76. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2020 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  17. ^ Lucendo 2019, p. 1862.
  18. ^ Lucendo 2019, p. 1863.
  19. ^ Henry 2016, p. 123.
  20. ^ Keeran, Joshua. "Gas Car Pioneer". Daily Citizen newspaper. Archived from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  21. ^ a b c "John W. Lambert". Anderson Herald. Anderson, Indiana. May 22, 1952. p. 4. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2020 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  22. ^ Indianapolis Star, March 22, 1914, p.18.
  23. ^ Mosier, Dave. "Lambert Days 2013". The Van Wert Independent. Archived from the original on March 27, 2021. Retrieved December 11, 2020.

Sources[]

External links[]

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