Box3l4l West Tisbury, Massachusetts 02575
How do you find something that doesn’t exist? You don’t
but in the search, you do find some very interesting things and get
to know nice people.
This tells the story of my search for a sales booklet for the
Robertson ville engines which I became interested in after I
acquired a nice original 6 HP engine with S shaped spokes. Every
collector I asked said they had never seen any printed matter.
‘Ye Old Reflector’ answered my telephone question saying he
had nothing in his file.
Linda Weidman of GEM helped me get started by giving me some
names of Canadian collectors. A phone call to the largest library
in Thetford Mines, Quebec P.C., led me to the College of Thetford
Mines and to Line Cliche and Marie Josee Poirier of the Societe des
Archives Historiques de la Region de L’ Amiante (S.A.H.R.A.) in
the Thetford Mines P.Q. This was pure gold, because they sent me a
page from the 75th anniversary book for Robertsonville showing
pictures of the factory, the owner’s family ( three boys and
three girls) and an engine, etc. The ladies of the S.A.H.R.A. then
went looking through their local newspaper file for any
advertising, and again struck gold on January 20, 1916.
ROBERTSONVILLE, P. Q.
LISTE DE PRIX
Engins Garoline
Payable Comptant
PAR TERMES
Comptant
Aprs 6 ms.
Aprs 12 ms.
Aprs 18 ms.
Aprs 24 ms
Aprs 30 ms.
Aprs 36 ms.
2 Forces. . . . .
$ 75.00
$ 25.00
27.50
26.25
4 ‘. . . . . .
200.00
25.00
58.75
56.25
$ 53.75
$ 2624
4×9
5 ‘ . . . . .
275.00
75.00
60.00
57.50
55 00
52.50
5 x9
6 ‘. . . . .
350.00
100.00
62.50
60.00
57.50
55.00
$ 52.50
6 x 10
8 ‘. . . . .
400.00
100.00
65.00
62.50
60.00
57.50
55.00
$52.50
10 ‘. . . . .
500.00
100.00
120.00
115 00
110.00
105.00
12 ‘. . . .
550.00
150.00
120.00
115.00
110.00
105.00
15 ‘. . . . .
750.00
150.00
180.00
172 50
165.00
157.50
20 ‘. . . . .
900.00
200.00
235.00
225.00
215.00
205 00
Godendards A Friction. . . . .
120.00
70 .00
27.50
26.25
Combin . . . . .
150.00
75 00
28 75
27.50
20.25
Ptrin mcanique. Bancsde Scie *
175.00
7500
55.00
52.50
Scie de 28 pees…
54,00
24.00
16.50
15.75
Scie de 30 pees. . .
55 00
25.00
16.50
15.75
Chaudron S No 5
6.75
Another line of search followed the report that two of the three
boys went into the priesthood. The church authorities in Quebec
City gave me the name and phone number of the youngest son, David,
who lived in retirement in the city.
Msr. David Lambert was so happy to hear from someone interested
in the family business. Although recovering from surgery, he
arranged to have copies made of his material contracts, invoices
and a price list.
Still no sign of an owner’s manual, but the search had been
rewarding.
The following is a chronology of the company:
J. Adolphe Lambert opened his foundry in Robertsonville in 1911.
In addition to engines, he manufactured many items of aluminum for
bakeries and also items for the local mines. In 1912, the foundry
was destroyed by fire and was rebuilt and reopened in 1913. Again,
in 1946, it was leveled by fire and the property was sold by Mr.
Lambert.
According to the advertisement in the local paper, on January
20, 1916, they offered 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 15 HP engines.
In their price list, they dropped the 1 HP but added a 20 HP. The
prices ranged from $75 to $900 for the largest.
It doesn’t appear that the engines were serially numbered
and horsepower was rarely indicated (although in one case it is
stamped on the cylinder near the oiler). Flywheels with curved
spokes were used on the 6 HP and 8 HP engines, but it is said that
flywheels with straight spokes were also used in later years.
I last spoke with Msr. David Lambert in 1992.I hope he is alive
and well.
