Dyson announces new innovative product – what is it?

Dyson’s teasing its newest invention. But the dazzling array of metal tubes, plastic things and circular doohickeys in its teaser video don’t give much away. What do you think it might be, and what do you want it to be?

Dyson’s well known for bringing innovation to existing products. Sir James Dyson himself invented bagless cyclonic vacuums, the latest being the DC47 and DC50.

But moving away from vacs, the company’s Airblade hand dryers are now a common sight in public facilities. We’ve also seen washing machines with contra-rotating drums and the Dyson Ballbarrow – a wheelbarrow with the Dyson Ball.

What will Dyson come up with next?

That’s the key question Dyson’s PR is posing to the world in the teaser video the company’s put together to taunt us.

The video itself shows a number of ambiguous elements: tough looking metal tubes, a circular axle/gear-like component, and after 13 seconds there’s the laser-cutting of a logo. This is handily obscured by the light gleaming off the tube it’s being cut into. Does that mean it’s an update of something already available? Or will the logo give away what it might be?

So what do you reckon it is?

Guesses around Which? HQ have been all over the place. Some think it’s some sort of new tumble dryer, others think it’s a lawnmower. One colleague even said it might resemble a car, though the odds are pretty long on that one. The only information that we do know for sure is that this has been in development for three years, it’s been worked on by 125 Dyson engineers and it has cost a cool £40m.

Whatever it is, we’ll be covering the launch next Tuesday 5 February. We’ll be sure to update this post with whatever we find there.

However, before we report back, we want your guesses as to what it might be. Also, if you had a say in what Dyson made next, what would you want it to be?

[UPDATE 5 Feb 2013] – Dyson has revealed its new creation. The company has redesigned its digital motor and put it into three appliances – a new version of the existing Airblade hand dryer, a brand new hand dryer called the Airblade V and the Airblade tap – a tap that also dries your hands. Are you blown away?

Nar2 says:

11 November 2014

“The Dyson Airblade V hand dryer be very good at stirring up dust that has settled on the floor of toilets..”

Eh? I don’t think so. For a start, the tap is no where near an actual toilet, but rather just sited where the normal water tap for cleaning hands would be located.

Secondly wherever the Dyson tap is installed, I doubt the toilets would be ignored in their general clean up by service personnel.

Have you actually experienced the Airblade wavechange? The original one rips water horizontally from hands and deposits the water in a drain underneath at the base of the dryer. Essentially it DOES blow air downwards, or rather, the water off hands once they have been washed.

wavechange says:

I most certainly have experienced the Dyson Airblade dryers, the first time being in Japan in 1998. I have not seen the Airblade Tap.

My main concern is about hand dryers such as the Airforce and Airblade V that direct air downwards at high velocity. Paper will blow around the room and so will dust laden with bacteria and other microorganisms. I have spent many years handling bacteria and teaching others.

Most bacteria are harmless but healthy people have hazardous bacteria in their bowels. Unfortunately, public toilets are not always as clean as they should be. The minimum infective dose of most bacteria is quite high, but there are some important exceptions.

The original Dyson Airblade is a better design in my view, though it would be better still if the exhaust air from the drying chamber was ducted outside the building.

dieseltaylor says:

I have read a medical study that reveals that paper towels are acually the most hygienic method and therefore desirable for hospitals etc.

The velocity of air from hand dryers being a problem. However at end of day for the vast majority of instances the cost of the hand drier per use compared to the storage, and logistic costs, of paper towels makes good sense.

I am sure that a search will reveal the research but I cannot recall which computer I saved it on : (

I have no idea if hand dryers are used in hospital toilets. Hopefully not in wards where there are patients with infections that could be transmitted by airborne microorganisms.