Dyson spends 7 years and £27m to make a tap with a built-in hand dryer costing £1,000

No, really.

The Airblade Tap builds on the firm's success with its existing standalone cold air hand driers, but is more expensive at £1,000.

The firm's founder, Sir James Dyson, said that the device offered long-term savings over hot air dryers and towels.

However, one expert said its appeal might be limited until its cost fell.

The machine consists of a unit placed underneath the sink containing a motor, an air filter and sound-silencing equipment; a pipe that carriers the water, electrics and air to the tap; and a stainless steel head unit from which the water flows and unheated air jets out at 430mph (692 km/h).

Although the minimalistic hybrid water-air tap head is the device's signature feature, Sir James said that the "secret" of the machine was its motor, which had taken seven years to develop.

Dyson said that its latest motor had taken more than 100 engineers over £26.9m to develop

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21323365

Reply 1

Pegasus2

16

Dyson is a clever man, I wish he would turn his attention to solving more important world problems rather than a sink tap that dries your hands.

Reply 2

scrotgrot

16

None of his hoovers have ever come close to a Henry though...

Reply 3

The Velour Fog

9

He must have an awful time in his daily life. The thought must've occurred to him one day, that walking the couple of steps it takes to the hand dryer was a terribly strenuous task. How ever does a person get that lazy?! :eek:

Reply 4

Skip_Snip

3

Original post by Aspiringlawstudent

However, one expert said its appeal might be limited until its cost fell.

Wow, how do they come up with this stuff, it sure takes an expert to know a high costing and somewhat needless thing to most people will have low appeal

Reply 5

Miracle Day

21

Original post by The Velour Fog

He must have an awful time in his daily life. The thought must've occurred to him one day, that walking the couple of steps it takes to the hand dryer was a terribly strenuous task. How ever does a person get that lazy?! :eek:

People have hand dryers in their kitchens?

I use the tea towell.

Reply 6

Aramiss18

14

I have huge respect for Dyson simply because at his age, with his wealth, he still works/bothers. If I'm ever even reomtely that wealthy then I won't be working, life is too short to give a ****.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

34253

2

Original post by Aramiss18

I have huge respect for Dyson simply because at his age, with his wealth, he still works/bothers. If I'm ever even reomtely that wealthy then I won't be working, life is too short to give a ****.

Engineering and invention isn't working, it's fun (for him). He'd be doing it even if it was as a hobbyist in his shed and it was costing him the majority of his pay. That's probably why he's so rich and successful.

Realistically speaking I would say he needs to turn his attention toward some sort of blender.

Reply 8

Dukeofwembley

Original post by scrotgrot

None of his hoovers have ever come close to a Henry though...

the ball is way better

Reply 9

mikecsh

Every single Dyson product is overhyped, extremely overpriced and nowhere near as good as is claimed.

Their vacuum cleaners cost a small fortune, don't perform any better than a Henry, are as loud as a jet engine taking off and they break frequently in irreparable or expensive to repair ways.

The air blade hand cleaners are as loud as a jet engine taking off, buffet dirty hands against the plastic sides causing more opportunities for germ transfer than with a traditional hand dryer and don't really dry your hands that effectively.

The air multiplier fan thing, costs a small fortune and is, as far as I can tell, completely pointless. It's utterly over engineered. Still, at least it isn't as loud as a jet engine taking off so some small improvement there?

Reply 10

Dukeofwembley

Original post by mikecsh

Every single Dyson product is overhyped, extremely overpriced and nowhere near as good as is claimed.

Their vacuum cleaners cost a small fortune, don't perform any better than a Henry, are as loud as a jet engine taking off and they break frequently in irreparable or expensive to repair ways.

The air blade hand cleaners are as loud as a jet engine taking off, buffet dirty hands against the plastic sides causing more opportunities for germ transfer than with a traditional hand dryer and don't really dry your hands that effectively.

The air multiplier fan thing, costs a small fortune and is, as far as I can tell, completely pointless. It's utterly over engineered. Still, at least it isn't as loud as a jet engine taking off so some small improvement there?

they do, a dyson is muc much more manoeuvrable than a henry

the dyson is way better

Reply 11

Rantalion1982

2

Dyson continually bangs on about British Engineering skills, and then closes his factory in Malmesbury and now all dyson junk is made in the Far East. That smacks more than a little of hypocrisy to me. If he was so concerned about British Engineering, he would have reestablished apprenticeships and not just taken the easy, money motivated route of relocating manufacture. Also, as mikecsh says, dyson products are ridiculously over-hyped, and most of the time, no better than significantly cheaper alternatives.

Reply 12

russellsteapot

16

It's only a few hundred £ less than the regular airblade, and they seem quite popular. Industrial hand dryers are always expensive, even for the traditional push button things.

It might appeal to establishments trying to have trendy toilets, but the extra effort involved with rearranging the layout in bathrooms will probably be more prohibitive than the costs. Other companies make far more robust tap/dryer combinations which will do the same thing, albeit without looking quite so natural. It looks a bit flimsy.

Reply 13

green.tea

18

I prefer these to the airblade.

http://www.xlltd.co.uk/

Really powerful and dry your hands much faster. The airblade seems over engineered to me.

In a busy restroom hand drying taps will result in people being at the sinks longer resulting in the requirement of more sinks, a cue at the sinks or people not washing their hands.

The money will probably be made back on licencing it out. There will no doubt be a few buyers (hotels, rich individuals, etc) but it won't go far as is. The technology will need to be reworked and made more affordable. Expect cheaper rip-offs in the near future.

On the other hand, I really don't get most of the "innovations" that Dyson came up with. I've never had a single problem using a regular hoover, and my hands can be easily dried using paper towels or the typical nozzle driers. I sometimes think he imagines problems just to try to fix them.

Reply 16

Studentus-anonymous

12

Original post by Pegasus2

Dyson is a clever man, I wish he would turn his attention to solving more important world problems rather than a sink tap that dries your hands.

His niche is household/domestic type stuff though. There's already legions of inventors and engineers, scientists etc working on 'the big picture'.

Still I think he has reached the limit with commercial hand washing/drying.

As people have said, in a world where most people are happy to use their dish towels, and combined washing/drying facilities already exist, this seems expensive for a solution that no-one needs.

Reply 17

duppy

He also invented a revolutionary washing machine which beats the washing like village women used to do by the river.

http://content.dyson.com/insidedyson/article.asp?aID=cr01

but nobody bought it because of the price