There is a strange device hanging from the ceiling of the top floor of Adelaide’s Malcolm Reid building.

In 1885 Robert McCarty patented a system of carrying packages on a wire and his invention was licensed to the Rapid Service Store Railway Company of Detroit. In 1887 Lamsons took control of this company and marketed the system under the name “Rapid”. The Rapid Wire system was born and so it came to pass that the Lamson Rapid Wire system was installed in the Malcolm Reid building of Rundle Street.

I’ve since learned more about how this amazing contraption transformed the retail experience for countless shoppers over the decades allowing them to complete their transaction with the sales person and not with a back office clerk. Perhaps this heralded the beginning of the ‘ideal retail experience’.

I’ve not yet discovered when the Lamson Rapid Wire system was installed here in the Malcolm Reid building so please let me know if you know more about its history.

Photo: Robert Rath, ‘Day 511, The Lamson Rapid Wire System’ 6s f/11 ISO100 15mm