WHEN the Wright brothers set out to develop the first controllable, powered, heavier-than-air flying machine at the turn of the last century, they had to invent almost everything they needed to get their Flyer off the ground. They had little choice: existing glider wing designs were certainly not up to the task, and the propellers used on airships were highly inefficient.
Their scrupulous, do-it-yourself approach has been a major source of inspiration for James Dyson, one of the UK鈥檚 best known industrial designers. The way they taught themselves the key physics and then tackled each problem as it came up should motivate anyone hoping to make a name for themselves as an inventor, he says. 鈥淚t was the Wrights who really showed us how to develop technology. They broke the problem down into individual components that they then solved brilliantly: the shape of the wing, the control surface and the twisted aerofoil propeller. And then they built the first wind tunnel to test it all in. I admire what they did enormously.鈥�
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Dyson鈥檚 design centre in leafy Malmesbury, Wiltshire, opened in 1993, is a long way from the gale-lashed, mosquito-ridden swamps of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where the Wrights had their beach workshop, yet the brothers鈥� influence over the Dyson design ethos is conspicuous. 鈥淲e develop all the technology that goes into our products ourselves because we are not happy with the slow rate of development elsewhere.鈥�
Dyson鈥檚 work on motors is a good example. The firm needs highly reliable electric motors to drive its appliances, such as its bagless dual-cyclone vacuum cleaners. In 1997, when it became clear that the motors it was buying in from external suppliers were using too much power and wearing out too soon, Dyson set up a small lab where engineers set about developing mass-producible motors of their own. 鈥淲e wanted a quantum leap, not just tiny changes in motor performance every year,鈥� he says.
By 2003, the lab had developed which delivered 33 per cent higher sucking pressure in a vacuum cleaner, compared with previous models. Last month the firm revealed a further development: a new high-speed motor a quarter the size of its predecessor (the new motor and an older version are pictured, left). Dyson claims its increased efficiency has doubled the battery life of his company鈥檚 hand-held vacuum cleaner (see diagram).
The motor lab has partly helped Dyson improve its once poor reliability record, which saw it hit the bottom of Which? magazine鈥檚 vacuum cleaner reliability league five years ago.
The lab is now developing motors for the company鈥檚 next move: its entry into the domestic robot market. This move is driven, no doubt, by the success of US-based iRobot鈥檚 , which has proved so compelling a domestic companion that some users make clothes for them and give them names. 鈥淲e made a robot vacuum cleaner five years ago but didn鈥檛 launch it because, with 85 sensors, powerful motors and huge numbers of batteries, it was just too expensive,鈥� says Dyson. The team鈥檚 goal is a robot that is able to navigate effectively but cheaply, so that it covers an entire floor with minimal path overlap.
The development of Dyson鈥檚 domestic robots 鈥� indeed his entire invention process 鈥� is being boosted by 3D printing, also known as rapid prototyping. This technology allows the creation of 3D prototypes from a design created on a computer. The design is fed into a machine, which builds the object bit by bit using twin laser beams that fuse together layers of powdered nylon or metal. The result? Almost magically, you pull out from the dust a near perfect 3D 鈥減rintout鈥� of the prototype you may later want to mass produce.
鈥淩apid prototyping has transformed the way we do things,鈥� says Dyson. 鈥淵ou can prototype in days what would once have taken months to machine, mill and handcraft.鈥�
鈥淵ou can now prototype in days what would take months to machine, mill and handcraft鈥�
He reckons 3D printing will have a profound impact on everybody鈥檚 ability to invent. 鈥淚 can envisage a time when there will be open source design software, open source drawings and an open source library of components donated by designers 鈥� so that you could download invention components from a library seamlessly into a design that鈥檚 then built by rapid prototyping. I really think that will happen.鈥�
This sounds like an inventor鈥檚 nirvana, but it could have drawbacks. If designs are as easily transmitted and shared as music and video files, inventors could find their ideas pirated 鈥� something Dyson thinks might need guarding against.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit like music. If you don鈥檛 protect inventor鈥檚 intellectual property with patents they won鈥檛 bother to create things.鈥� Dyson is a long-standing critic of the annual renewal fees inventors currently have to pay to keep their patents valid. 鈥淭he patent is your right and you shouldn鈥檛 lose it because you can鈥檛 afford to pay renewal fees. For individuals and small companies, paying these fees every year for every patent in every country is unaffordable.鈥�
As you鈥檇 expect, Dyson opposes anything that might dissuade people from becoming inventors. 鈥淲e need to encourage children, teachers and parents to realise that engineering is an exciting, profitable career.鈥�
One thing that鈥檚 helping on that front, he says, is the proliferation of TV shows that have inventors pitching ideas to teams of investors, such as the BBC鈥檚 Dragon鈥檚 Den, ABC鈥檚 American Inventor and its upcoming follow-up, Shark Tank. 鈥淚 must say I don鈥檛 really like the reality TV side of it, but I do like the principle of inventors demonstrating their ideas and getting backing.鈥�
So would Dyson ever consider becoming a BBC 鈥渄ragon鈥� 鈥� one of the investors who quiz the inventors? 鈥淣o way. I鈥檇 hate to be a dragon. I鈥檝e already got 500 people coming to me with ideas all the time.鈥�
A chronicle of curious contraptions
James Dyson set his sights on becoming an inventor in the mid-1960s after meeting Alec Issigonis, designer of the iconic Austin Mini, and Alex Moulton, who invented the rubber suspension system that allowed the Mini鈥檚 engineers to keep it so compact. He also counts Isambard Brunel and architect and futurist Buckminster Fuller among his influences.
While at London鈥檚 Royal College of Art in 1970, Dyson co-developed the Sea Truck, a shallow-draught fibreglass boat designed to carry cargo onto beaches and places with no jetty or harbour facilities. After , he moved on to his next brainwave, reinventing the wheel: in 1974 he launched the , a wheelbarrow with a ball in place of a wheel. By distributing pressure more effectively, the ball was less likely to get stuck in mud.
In 1978, Dyson began working on his signature invention: an alternative to traditional vacuum cleaners that clog their filters with dust as their bags fill, limiting their ability to suck up more dirt. His answer was to spin the dirt-carrying air to separate it out centrifugally, eliminating the need for a filter. His 鈥渄ual cyclone鈥� technology made Dyson鈥檚 vacuum cleaners a best-seller by 1995. Hoover came up with a variant on the cyclone idea, leading Dyson to sue for patent infringement. He won 拢4 million in damages in the UK High Court in 2002.
In 2003, Dyson鈥檚 lab unveiled a novel low-power, high-speed motor which then formed the heart of the Airblade, a superfast hand dryer.
One notable failure, however, was a washing machine launched in 2004, which provided an object lesson in over-engineering. With contra-rotating drums that mimicked the textile flexing involved in hand washing, it was by Dyson鈥檚 own admission over-complicated and expensive. It was discontinued.
