Ron Hickman

After three years at Ford, Hickman moved to Chapman's newly founded company in north London and worked as a production engineer and general manager.

He worked on the first car produced by Lotus, the Elite, which was deemed beautifully styled and a superb drive, but proved too complicated to build and too frail to be desirable by the public.

His wife was not impressed and Hickman came up with a simple, multifunctional bench – a combination sawhorse and vice on a foldable alloy frame.

Hickman sold the benches himself to professional builders at trade shows until Black & Decker saw the light in 1973 and began producing them.

[7] Hickman had several other patents filed including: He also designed a hand wringer for clothing that could attach to any flat surface and a child's toilet pot that resisted being knocked over.

He was obsessed with cars and on completing his legal training in 1954, he borrowed £100 from his father and travelled to London with the intention of finding work in the motor vehicle industry.

He worked for both Ford and Lotus but it was his own invention, the Workmate, which allowed him to retire a rich man from the royalties paid by Black & Decker on the sales of the device.

Former racing driver Derek Warwick (1990 Formula One, Team Lotus) said the multimillionaire was a unique character with a distinctly inventive spirit.

[1] After his death, more than 100 automotive sketches and concept drawings, including supporting photographs and documents were donated to the National Motor Museum Trust at Beaulieu by Hickman’s widow, Helen.