Ron Hickman's invaluable invention embodies a spirit this country needs to see more of
The Workmate is the iPad of the hands-on world. If you enjoy making solid things, here is one of those tools, like the Stanley knife, that has made itself indispensable. So versatile is it that cookery writers have urged using it to saw coconuts. Since Black & Decker started producing this folding sawhorse-meets-workbench-and-vice in 1973, more than 30m have been sold. Last year, 60,000 were bought in Britain, proof that these islands, better known for their passionate and perilous love of banking and shopping, retain a residual fondness for manufacturing and DIY. Last week, Ron Hickman, inventor of the Workmate, died. Receiving a pound for every one sold, he became wealthy. But the appeal of a compact, multi-purpose work station that could be carried in the boot of a car was initially lost on some. Hickman had come up with the idea in 1961 after damaging a pricey Swedish armchair from Heal's while using it as an improvised sawhorse. Stanley Tools knifed his ambitions, turning him down on the basis that "sales would be measured in dozens". Luckily, no one said the same thing to Colin Chapman when, at the same time, he nurtured a tiny, immeasurably stylish, lightweight road racer named the Lotus Elan, a commercial success which Hickman co-designed. Now imagine packing a Workmate in the boot of an Elan and setting off for work; the idea of making things for a living does not get more glamorous. For manufacturing's sake, we need Hickman's design elan and the Workmate spirit today.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/22/in-praise-of-workmate
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