Public and workplace washroom often have far fewer hand drier than they have sump to wash out hand in , leaving people queuing for a drier with dripping hands .
OK , perhaps it ’s not one of the world ’s grownup problem . But it is annoying enough to be addressed by vacuum cleaner andAirblade hand drier maker Dyson of Malmesbury , UK , in a US patent filing : it has invented a weewee hydrant that can also dry your hand .
Some fast food joints already have a gob - in - the - paries hand wash system that you horn in your hands into , earmark them to be squirted with warm water and then dried by a freestanding melody blast from somewhere within the bizarre orifice . Dyson ’s arrogate freshness looks like that both the piss and the blow of drying gentle wind come from one elegant mechanism that can be used at every single sinkhole . No more queues .
In US patent application2012/0291195 , filed last workweek , Dyson explains how it will sour . The unit is operate hands - gratis , with sensors releasing water from the underside of a spout , add up 10 in the image below . When you ’re done , another sensor recognises when you come out each script , palm open , beneath a pair of odd mitt ( 11a / b ) and correct hand ( 11c / d ) ducts . Your hands are then microwave dry by warm air snuff it through breeze - blasting nozzles in the base of each channel ( 14 and 16 ) . “ So a exploiter can conveniently dry their hands at the sink without make to move , ” the patent says . Handy .
Of naturally , the fact that Dyson has file a patent for an invention does not intend it will turn it into a real product . For instance , the kitchen stove ofspace - write three-dimensional kitchen appliancesit patented in 2009 has not rise up at all .
But this patent could be dissimilar . Why ? Because ( a ) it is an innovative variation on one of the firm ’s current , successful product topic and ( b ) the patent has been given the notably boring deed of conveyance of “ Fixture for a sink ” – perhaps in a bid to make rivals not look twice at it and grow a like idea that works around the patent . It ’s a standard joke .
Top image by Beyond Fotomedia / Getty ; Schematic images from USPTO
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