Lambert is perhaps best known today for making the oldest sound recording reproducible on its own device (1878) on his own version of the phonograph.

[3][4] Lambert was born in Lyon, France; he relocated to the United States in 1876 and became a U.S. citizen[5] in 1893.

[8][9] However, the attempts to make a commercially viable "phonograph clock" proved unsuccessful.

[12] Lambert completed his main invention, a typewriter on which the keyboard consists of one single piece.

[citation needed] During his career he registered over 30 patents for, among other things, typewriters, water meters, a voting machine, and a double-decked car.