Lambert friction gearing disk drive transmission

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Lambert friction-gearing transmission invention patent drawing

The Lambert friction gearing disk drive transmission was patented by John William Lambert originally in 1904. The mechanical transmission consisted of a friction wheel pressed against the back of the automobile motor flywheel by a pedal controlled by the foot. It was a type of clutch by this function. When the pedal pressure was released altogether the friction wheel could be moved across the power flywheel to provide a different ratio and give a driving speed as high or as low as desired and even go into reverse for a brake or driving backwards.


Description[]

The invention was a transmission for automobiles that had no toothed gears and instead was a friction disk drive that transferred the motor power to the wheels for propulsion.[1] Lambert saw the need for a simple transmission of engine power to an automobile's drive wheels.[2] Some of Lambert's greatest difficulties encountered in attaining success for his gear-less friction disk drive transmission was the preconceived notion of the public that an automobile transmission had to have gears to operate correctly.[3]

Lambert touring car with the friction gearing disk drive transmission

The friction disk drive was one of the key features of the Union automobile and Lambert automobile.[4] Lambert started in 1900 to make the friction disk and traversing pinion drive. He first attempted 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 friction driving.[5]

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.[6]

The speed regulation was done by a steel bell crank, forked and carrying a U-shaped shoe to engage the grooved hub on the driving wheel at one end, and having the other end linked to the speed change and reversing lever. The wheel slid freely on the sleeve when moved away from the disk. All the speeds, from the highest to the lowest, could be done in either direction. The Lambert transmission always used side chains to the rear wheels and a balance gear connected to the splined sleeve on which the wheel slide and a steel shaft which supported the sleeve. The key feature of the Lambert automobile was the friction disk drive carried over from the Union automobile.[5][6]

The main flywheel or driving disk from the automobile engine is faced with a disk of aluminum. The driven disk has a working rim of elastic fiber of either paper or wood Lambert says in the invention. He found that the combination of aluminum and fiber bearing surfaces gave the maximum degree of friction and durability. Toothed gears on the other hand had to be in very close contact with each other at all times to be efficient and not slip. That caused the friction surfaces of the teeth to be exposed to great strains and wore out the gears quicker than the friction drive transmission.[7]

Lambert applied for a patent on this transmission which became No. 761,384 finalized May 31, 1904. The patent had six claims. The mechanism had a combination pair of shafts with disks that worked with each other. The main large disk that was driven off the automobile engine was faced with aluminum. The second disk was smaller and at 90 degrees to the main disk. This smaller disk had a fiber part on its rim and rubbed upon the aluminum faced driving-disk. The smaller disk was mechanically controllable as to the placement onto the radius of the powered disk. That placement controlled the speed of the automobile and could even be placed to make the car go in reverse.[8]

1910 invention[]

Lambert's 1910 improved friction driving mechanism
patent 954,977.

The improved 1910 invention, patent No. 954,977, made additional improvements to the original friction driving mechanism and had mechanically improved features to make the transmission operate smoother. [9]

  • Lambert chassis showing the friction gearing transmission

  • The disk drive transmission in an assembly production line

  • The disk drive transmission in 1906 Lambert models 7 & 8

See also[]

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ "Each Model a Leader in Its Class". Cycle and Automobile Journal. 13: 106-107. 1909.
  2. ^ Forkner p. 383 Lambert patented friction transmission: J. W. Lambert wanted a simpler form than the usual gear transmission for transmitting power from the engine to the driving mechanism. He foresaw that universal use of power-driven vehicles depended upon a reduction of upkeep and maintenance costs, rather than upon a lowered cost of first production selling prices. He developed a simple friction device.
  3. ^ "Lambert's work brings success". The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. 22 March 1914. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com open access.
  4. ^ Naldrett 2016, p. 73.
  5. ^ a b Dolnar 1906, pp. 226–227.
  6. ^ a b Dolnar 1906, pp. 228–229.
  7. ^ "Patents / 261, 384 Friction Gearing". The Horseless Age. 14: 48. 1904.
  8. ^ "761,384 FRICTION GEARING JOHN W LAMBERT Anderson assignor to the Buckeye Manufacturing Company Anderson Filed July 19 1902 Serial No 116,168". Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. 110: 1314. 1904.
  9. ^ "954,977 FRICTION DRIVING MECHANISM JOHN W LAMBERT Anderson Ind Filed Jan 7 1909 No 471,055". Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. 153: 475. 1910.

Sources[]

Further reading[]

  • Biography of John W. Lambert, written by his son January 25, 1935 – obtained from the Detroit Public Library, National Automotive History Collection
  • Forkner, John L., History of Madison County, Indiana, New York and Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1914
  • The Horseless Age: The Automobile Trade Magazine, The Horseless Age Company, 1902
  • Bailey, L. Scott, Historic Discovery: 1891 Lambert, New Claim for America's First Car, Antique Automobile magazine, Vol. 24, No. 5, Oct–November 1960
  • David Burgess Wise, The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Automobiles ISBN 0-7858-1106-0
  • Dittlinger, Esther et al., Anderson: A Pictorial History, G. Bradley Publishing, 1990, ISBN 0-943963-16-8
  • Georgano, G.N., The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile, Taylor & Francis, 2000, ISBN 1-57958-293-1
  • Huffman, Wallace Spencer, Indiana's Place in Automobile History in Indiana History Bulletin, vol 44, no. 2, February 1967; Indianapolis, Indiana Historical Bureau
  • Huhti, Thomas, The Great Indiana Touring Book: 20 Spectacular Auto Tours, Big Earth Publishing, 2002, ISBN 1-931599-09-2
  • James, Wanda, Driving from Japan, McFarland, 2005, ISBN 0-7864-1734-X
  • Kimes,Beverly Rae (1996), Standard Catalog American Cars 1805–1942, ISBN 0-87341-428-4
  • Lucendo, Jorge (2019), Cars of Legend
  • Madden, W. C., Haynes-Apperson and America's First Practical Automobile: A History, McFarland, 2003, ISBN 0-7864-1397-2
  • Scharchburg, Richard P., Carriages Without Horses: J. Frank Duryea and the Birth of the American Automobile Industry, SAE, 1993, ISBN 1-56091-380-0
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