El 4: Dyson’s Radical Plan to Combine a Sink With a Hand Dryer

Washing your hands is a broken process, according to Dyson. First you use a sink to pour water over your hands, then walk over to a towel dispenser or air dryer to dry them off. What madness is this?

Okay, it's not misery and bedlam, but there may be room for improvement, and Dyson has an idea on that score: Why not combine an air dryer with a sink, so you don't even have to move to (or worse, wait for) a separate unit to dry your hands?

That's the device Dyson envisions in this patent application, spotted by PhysOrg, for a "dual-purpose fixture for a sink or wash basin, incorporating both a water tap and a hand dryer." It's actually not a bad idea, and not just for convenience. On the website for its Airblade hand dryer, Dyson cites data that says every paper towel generates half an ounce of carbon emissions.

Dyson's sink-dryer hybrid aims to cut that way down through air nozzles on the side of the faucet that fire off air just like a hand dryer. Ideally, each side has two nozzles that fire air at each other, with a space in between for users to move their hands in and out -- basically a pair of Airblades in miniature. (You can see some concept drawings in the gallery below.)

Just like the Airblade, there would be no On button for the dryers; instead, they'd automatically activate when a hand passes in between the two nozzles. The front nozzle would also be slightly lower than the rear one in order to accommodate the downward angle of the washer's arms.

Although it's a national joke how lousy most sensor-driven taps and dryers are, our experience with Dyson's Airblade has been great. If Dyson's hybrid idea can make automatic taps more efficient and reliable at the same time, we'd love to see them in public bathrooms everywhere.

What's your take on the idea? See any potential pitfalls? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Dyson Air Dryer/Sink Hybrid

Dyson applied to patent a sink with a build-in air dryer, similar to the company's Airblade. Here's a drawing from the patent, a perspective view of the device, comprising a fixture fitted to a sink.