Born in 1902 in Knoxville, Adelaide, Lance Hill was a motor mechanic, manufacturer and designer of the rotary clothesline, a popular household device of the 1950’s. Growing up in Adelaide, he was the second oldest child of Alfred William Hill and Lillian Ethal. As he grew up, he helped out with the family business of a bacon and meat canary, where he obtained thereafter, a steam engineer’s certificate, refrigeration and general engineering skills and later opened his own motor garage at Prospect, where he met his wife Cynthia Harriett Mary, a saleswoman. Afterwards, he enlisted into the Military in 1942, where he continued work in mechanics, instructing the motorbike dispatch riders and other mechanics. Discharged in 1945, his wife asked him to fix the laundry line as it was obstructing the citrus tree and constantly slipping off. Having lived in a geographically isolated area, he had learnt at an early age how to make or adapt what he had to …show more content…
As a result, Hill made his own winding system that very same year. With the patent in their hands, they officially formed a partnership, rented a small factory at Fullarton and expanded production. On January 15th 1948, Hills Hoist Ltd was formed with Hills as the chairman and Ling the director. One month later, the Fullarton property was produced.
Once the Hills Hoist was promoted properly through the radio and newspapers, it became very popular and the demands for the product increased immensely. The firm boosted the popularity of rotary clotheslines by introducing a lever action model, which was 1/3 cheaper than the existing ones. A large population of the society became reliant on this product and adapted very quickly to the innovation, integrating it into the everyday Australian