This model of a Hills Hoist was used for marketing purposes in the 1950s. The Hills Hoist is an Australian cultural icon. The original rotary clothes hoist that became the iconic Hills Hoist was invented and patented in Geelong by blacksmith Gilbert Toyne in 1911, Toyne, along with his friend Lambert Downey, launched the Aeroplane Clothes Hoist at Melbourne's 1911 Royal Agricultural Show. His business plan was interrupted when he served in World War I, but he returned and refined the idea to include a wind-up mechanism. In 1945, when Toyne's patent had collapsed, Adelaide's Lance Hill adapted the design and with his brother-in-law Harold Ling, began mass producing the iconic Hills Hoist.Model of a rotary clothesline, featuring a central steel pole with radiating arms that hold multiple lines.Hills / Hills Hoistinventions, clothesline, hills hoist, rotary clothesline, domestic life, geelong, lance hill, gilbert toyne, war, 1911 royal agricultural show melbourne, aeroplane clothes hoist, harold ling

Archibald McKirdy purchased the Toyne's hoist business in 1925 and moved its production from Carnegie to Mont Albert where the family had lived since the 1880s. The factory was in Mont Albert Road near the railway line and the family lived at 2 Stanhope Street. 'Hung Out to Dry' is based on detailed and innovative research and analysis; part family history, part social history, part industrial history, part garden history. It is the story of the rotary clothes hoist.'Hung Out to Dry' is based on detailed and innovative research research and analysis; part family history, part social history, part industrial history, part garden history. It is the story of the rotary clothes hoist.(mr) gilbert toyne, inventors, (mr) archibald mckirdy, clothes lines, (mr) peter cuffley, cas middlemis