In 1949, the Chrysler Corporation introduced a new disc brake system, but it was nothing like the disc brakes we know today. Here’s how it worked.
Shown above is Chrysler enginer W.R. Rodger with a friction element from the new disc brake setup the automaker introduced for 1949. However, the system was not conceived at Chrysler but by Homer T. Lambert for the Automotive Specialties Manufacturing Company of St. Joseph, Michigan. This company, known to the industry as Ausco, supplied the brakes to Chrysler. And so it was that the unusual system became known as the Ausco Lambert or Chrysler-Ausco Lambert.
As we can see, the Ausco Lambert bears no similarity to the caliper-type disc brakes developed for aircraft in the 1940s, or those later adopted by Crosley, Dunlop, and ultimately the entire auto industry. In its basic configuration, the Lambert design sort of resembles the familiar clutch-disc and pressure-plate arrangment for a conventional manual transmission (as do the Milan and Kinmont brakes) but there are some important differences there, too.
Externally, the Ausco Lambert setup looked more like a conventional drum brake system than a modern disc brake. The deep-finned cast-iron brake drum was constructed in two halves, inner and outer, that fastened together with 10 machine screws. Inside were two conventional hydraulic wheel cylinders and a pair of steel discs. When the pedal was applied the two discs were pushed apart by hydraulic pressure and into the friction faces machined in the inner and outer drum halves.
The exploded view above provides more detail, including the two brake discs, which were faced with conventional brake lining material. A key to the system’s operation: Six hardened steel balls of approximately .750 inches in diameter were captured between the back sides of the two discs in matching, carefully machined pockets. When the two brake discs changed in relative speed under deceleration, the balls climbed up in their pockets to push the discs apart and add braking force. When the pedal was released, the discs and balls returned to their resting positions.
The ball-and-ramp arrangement between the discs provided self-energizing and self-releasing, and it also gave engineers a powerful tool for tuning the force and sensitivity of the braking system. No booster was required, as the Lambert system needed only half the pedal force of conventional drum brakes of the time. Selling points also included no need for adjustment, greater surface area, better heat dissipation, and reduced fade.
Lambert was awarded numerous patents for his braking system, which he called “Double DIsk” in the filings. In 1947, Lambert Disc Brakes were advertised in the automotive trade journals (above) as the products of a division of Ausco before Chrysler adopted them. (In the ’50s, Orenstein & Koppel of Germany offered a similar system.) Ausco Products is still in business today, still in Southwest Michigan, offering a highly evolved form of the original design. These multi-disc brakes, sealed and liquid-cooled, are engineered for extreme environments that quickly destroy conventional brakes, such as mining and excavation.
Chrysler introduced the Ausco Lambert system at all four wheels on the 1949 Crown Imperial (below) where it was standard equipment through 1954, and also included the feature on the 1950 Chrysler Town & Country. On other Chrysler division cars, it was a costly $400 option. While the brakes had some reputation for grabbiness they were well regarded overall, but it doesn’t seem car buyers found added value in them. Chrysler reverted to standard 12-inch drum brakes in 1955 and didn’t offer disc brakes again until 1966.
How ingenious. I had heard of this system but have never seen it in such detail. I can see why they were so expensive with the high component count.
I had John Deere 1010 tractor from the 60s with similar brakes
$400 was a serious amount of cash 70 years ago is why they weren’t more popular I’m sure.
Quite right. The cars were then in the $2000-3000 range.
Have a John deere 2010 with that type of brake. Might say you have no brakes, don’t think that they worked well when new.
Didn’t Tucker use a system like this? We have talked about what a good magazine Car Classics magazine was. I remember an article on Tucker from 1973 that mentioned this.
Tucker originally planned to use Kinmont disc brakes, but ran out of money and time and used standard Detroit-style drum brakes on the production cars. The Kinmont brake used a friction plate and pressure plate much like a conventional automotive clutch.
Farm tractors use similar on the transaxle
John deer massy ferguson and white since the early 50s
That is not Bob Rodger in the photo. I don’t know who it is but likely someone with Ausco Lambert engineering.
It’s not Bob Rodger, it’s W.R Rodger. He appeared in Chrysler ads. No relation that I can find.
Chrysler Ausco Lambert brakes were also standard equipment on the 1955 and 1956 Crown Imperial models.
Wayne, Ausco-Lambert Discs were used for the Crown Imperial limousines and 7-passenger sedans from 1950 thru 1955, but the 1956 versions used the regular drum brakes.
I am very familiar with these cars, having owned both a 1950 Town & Country hardtop and a 1955 Imperial limo [ex-White House limo – *see comment at the end]. I’ve also worked on other Imperial Crown series limousines. The Ausco-Lambert brakes were always installed as a 4-wheel system.
If I remember correctly, Ausco is short for Automotive Specialty Company. My limited research started in 1976 when I was working on both my T & C and Limo. My cars both came from the Washington DC area. The biggest commercial supplier and rebuilder of brake systems in the area was a company known as May’s Brakes, founded by Joe Mays back in the 1930s.
Needing brake parts for the Lambert brakes, none of the local auto parts places had anything, so I took one set with me to visit May’s Brake in northwest Washington, DC. When I set the parts down on the counter, the first thing the guy said was “We don’t work on hydraulic clutches!”. When I pointed out the hub with the 5 wheel studs, he said to hold on while he found someone to help me.
That person was Joe May [or his son, can’t remember exactly], who took one look at what I had and said “Oh, you got one of the White House limos”. It was then I learned that the White house and other DC government agency limousines had at one time used quite a few cars that had Lambert disc brakes. May’s brake actually stocked Lambert parts at the request of the White House Garage, and still had those parts in stock, the boxes covered with dust.
The Lambert brake systems on Chryslers were actually 2 different versions of the main cast iron drums & hubs, with the internal parts mostly the same. As I had the 1950 T & C that used the early 1950-53 version, and the ’55 limo that used the late system, I decided to buy all the Lambert parts from Mays, if I could get a good price.
Mr May made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse; If I had them reline the disc rings that held the friction pads, [6 bonded pads per ring, 2 rings per wheel, 4 wheels per car, for a grand total of 96 friction pads, and paid them to rebuild all 16 single ended wheel cylinders using their kits], May’s brake would GIVE me all the remaining Lambert parts they had, because they figured I was probably the only one in the DC area who would want them anyway.
The price was only about $200 per car. So we wrote up the repair order and I went back to my storage building, and once both cars were sitting on jack stands, I pulled all the brakes off them and returned to May’s Brake with multiple boxes of parts. .
A couple of weeks later I returned to May’s Brake and found everything had been not just rebuilt, but cleaned, blasted and reassembled with new hardware and in the case of the front hubs, they had fitted new bearings and seals as well!
Once I paid the bill, then the guys wheeled out a shop cart loaded with boxes of NOS Chrysler and Ausco-Lambert brake parts, from hardware to discs, hubs to wheel cylinders, even kits, all of it included in the price. Everything pretty much covered the entire floor of my ’73 Dodge van. When I sold each of the cars, I included the appropriate versions of the Lambert brake parts too.
When these are working well [like any brake assembly!] they are incredibly good at stopping a heavy vehicle like a Imperial limousine, and I never experienced any brake fade, even after repeated high speed braking. They work so well that the cars didn’t even require a power brake booster.
*Comment: Unknown to me when I first bought it, my ’55 limousine was one of 2 modified by Derham Body Works for Chrysler, to be used in the Eisenhower White House because Ike was personal friends with the President of Chrysler. My car was “Mamie’s limo”, and the other car, with a special sunroof in the rear section, and no jump seats, was Ike’s car. In 1978 I was at a local car show in Laurel, MD with my limo, when I was informed there was another one in the general parking area.
That’s when I first saw Ike’s limo, and it’s owner Jimmy Jones. We became close friends for many years, and I laid the groundwork for him to leave the limo to the Eisenhower Farm in Gettysburg, PA, where it lives today. And yeah, it’s got brake parts from the May’s Brake Ausco-Lambert hoard!