History
Lamson was established in Australia in the year 1898. The doors were opened for trading by Mr. C O Kemp on the 28th of September. The idea of a store of a “store service system” originated in the United States in 1879. Drapery store owner, William Stickney Lamson, became aware of the time and effort wasted by shop assistants taking customers’ money to cashier and retuning with change. William Lamson realised that there had to be a better way.
Early ideas involved tying cash and bills in a handkerchief and “throwing” it to the cashier which proved to be unsuccessful to a great extent. The end result of his effort was the Ball System, where a hollow ball containing the money rolled on an inclined track from the shop assistants’ counter to the cashier. The cashier also had an inclined track that rolled the change back to the assistants’ counter.
The move across the Atlantic of Lamson’s “Ball System” was instigated by a Mr. John Kelly who obtained the rights in the United Kingdom to Lamson’s invention. In 1885, from a small private hotel in Craven Street, London, the Lamson Consolidated Store Service Company commenced trading. By 1889 hundreds of station “Ball Systems” were operating in the UK.
Another invention called the “Rapid Wire System” was later introduced which automated the “Ball System” to a certain degree. For the next 50 years Lamson’s “Rapid Wire System” or as it was affectionately known, “Flying Fox” would zoom across ceiling spaces of stores throughout Australia. Many a small child lugged along by Mum on a shopping safari, was fascinated by these “Flying Foxes”.
Lamson systems have been part of the changing pace of Australian business for over 100 years. They have been an integral part of the nation’s retail, hospitals, and other commercial and non-commercial sector. Thousands of Lamson systems were installed, some original systems like the National Library in Canberra installed in 1968 still work today. As times change, Lamson is more than confident that the products and services they have, and those still in the research and development phase, will continue to carry the proud tradition.