It was not so long ago that we experienced a hand drying revolution. Electric Hand Dryers were launched in the 1940's by George Clement as an low maintenance alternative to cloth and paper towels. Patents were filed as far back as the 1920's for manually powered foot pump dryers, we can only imagine how bad they must have been!
The electric dryers of the late 40's didn't change much over the next 50 years, until Mitsubishi adapted their airflow motor technology to create a dual sided hand dryer. This unusual looking device (now commonplace) scraped water from your hands into a tank, this was the original Jet Towel. This invention is typical of the 'out of box' Japanese thinking around the public washroom experience. If you have ever been to Japan you will know they have toilets with heated seats, nice warming jet sprays to tantalise and optional sounds to hide your dignity. You will often find sinks that refill the toilet pan for maximum waste reduction, its a real experience! Unfortunately Japanese toilet technology seems to be kept largely to themselves and the Jet Towel remained quite unknown throughout the rest of the world.This design was eventually popularised around the world by Dyson in 2006.
2002 saw the launch of the Xlerator. At the time of its launch, hand dryers had a pretty bad press for being slow and ineffective. Not so with the Xlerator, it literally assaulted your hands into submission, creating a interesting but quite stressful experience as the sound of a jet engine taking off and g-force power rippled your skin and splattered water against the walls and floor. This beast has been calmed down a little but it still remains the most aggressive of eco hand dryers, although highly effective at getting the job done.
World dryer recognised that they needed to evolve and introduced the Airforce hand dryer which with its multi-jet airflow configeration was faster than conventional dryers but far less stressful to use than the Xlerator, providing a gentle massaging effect. This has remained popular in the UK from its launch in 2006 up unitl recent years.
Next came the Dyson AB01. Launched around 2006. They took the Mitsubishi technology and made it cool and a lot more powerful. The early model was beset with problems but now the face of hand drying had been changed for ever, innovation was the new norm to survive.
The new environmental consciousness and financial crisi of 2008 created a desire to cut landfill paper towel waste and costs. High speed, energy efficient hand dryers in all kinds of shapes and sizes appeared to bewilder the public. Thankfully these have continued to improve and now even low cost hand dryers are effective and reliable.
Dyson changed the rules again with their over the sink dryers and have recently launched a very bizzare new creation.
Innovation is set to continue in this high growth market as the impending doom of our planet demands that we stop cutting down trees just so we can create more waste.
