The lambert typewriter is of a very unique design. commonly referred to as an index typewriter it is really a keyboard typewriter. The lambert is very much a situation of good design at the wrong time. patented in 1884 production of the machine didn’t start till right around 1900. made in New York. But this was the time when standardized front strike keyboard and typebar machines were gaining popularity at a very rapid pace and becoming the office standard for businesses. This led to an early demise to the lambert’s future in the typewriter market. but a good number of machines were still produced including 3 models and a couple name variants. It should also be noted that the lambert was marketed using a different dial and element to allow for the accented letters of other languages for international markets such as France and Canada. The machine was offered with at least 2 styles of case, including a leather style, and a beautifully made wood veneer case with a Saturn decal on the lid.
The model 1 was almost identical in design to the model 2, having an embossed base with the name. they had slightly different pinstripes on the neck of the machine, and the model 1 the keyboard “dial” would rotate along with the print head allowing the machine to type in almost an italic lettering. Also, the earliest lamberts the buttons on the dial are of a different styling, having a rim of small dots around each character button. whereas on later machines like the one pictured the button is smooth.
The model 3 had a base with no raised lettering and using a decal instead
The butler is a name variant of the lambert, essentially being a model 3 but having a slightly wider carriage.
To use the machine, one would clamp the paper into the paper roller rather than the traditional paper bale and feed roller system, The platen on this machine is not really the roller like on a standard typewriter, but rather the small rubber dot attached to the metal plate in front of the roller, this is the printing point. To type the head would tilt when a key was pressed causing a pin to index into a slot in the print element, after the pin was indexed in place the entire head assembly would push down printing the letter onto the paper. inking was achieved by an ink pad seated up against the machines single type elements face, there is a lever on the side of the machine to facilitate shifting for capitals and characters. this raises and lowers the height of the pin that indexes into the print element allowing it to index into a different slot.
