The Vacuum Man Takes On Wet Hands

James Dyson moves beyond cyclonic vacuums to bring the world a better hand dryer

BusinessWeek, July 2, 2007 — This test of James Dyson's latest invention is anything but scientific, but it's pretty convincing. You immerse your hands in water, shake them, and then dip them into the curvaceous opening at the top of a sleek, gray hand dryer mounted on the wall that looks like some sort of high-tech fingerprint reader. Infrared sensors trip the "on" switch, and intense jets of air squeegee the moisture off your hands as you slowly draw them out. Elapsed time: 12 seconds, less than half the time taken by conventional machines.

Vacuum leader Dyson sets sights on hand dryer market

USA Today, June 17, 2007 — Dyson is about to enter rare air. Not satisfied with its wild success in turning the mundane vacuum cleaner into a high-tech, high-style, high-priced device, Dyson on Monday will announce plans to try to do the same in the USA with commercial hand dryers. Next month, the upstart British company whose vacuums costing up to $599 quickly became top-sellers in the USA, will roll out the $1,400 Dyson Airblade hand dryer.