James Dyson
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2008-07-01T18:21:48Z
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{{Infobox Person
|name = Sir James Dyson
|image =
|image_size =
|caption = English [[inventor]] and [[entrepreneur]]
|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1947|5|2|mf=y}}
|birth_place = [[Norfolk]], [[England]]
|residence = Gloucestershire, France & London
|nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]]
|known_for =
|education = [[Gresham's School]], [[Royal College of Art]]
|networth = U$2 billion
|spouse = Deirdre Hindmarsh
|children = 3
|website =
|footnotes =
}}
'''Sir James Dyson''' (born [[Cromer]], [[Norfolk]], [[England]], [[2 May]] [[1947]]), is an [[England|English]] [[industrial designer]].
He is best known as the inventor of the [[DC01|Dual Cyclone]] bagless [[vacuum cleaner]], which works on the principle of [[cyclonic separation]]. His [[net worth]] in 2008 was said to be £1.1 billion.<ref>[http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/rich_list/article3759059.ece Sunday Times - Rich List<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>.
==Biography==
Dyson is one of three children, whose father Alec Dyson died of [[Hepatocellular carcinoma|liver cancer]] in 1956. Dyson was educated at [[Gresham's School]], [[Holt, Norfolk|Holt]], [[Norfolk]], from 1956 to 1965, where he excelled in long distance running: ''" I was quite good at it, not because I was physically good, but because I had more determination. I learned determination from it."''<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/ceonetwork/2006/08/01/leadership-facetime-dyson-cx_hc_0801dyson.html James Dyson Cleans Up - Forbes.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. He then spent one year (1965–1966) at the Byam Shaw School of Art (now the [[Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design]]), and then studied [[furniture]] and [[interior design]] at the [[Royal College of Art]] (1966–1970) before moving into [[engineering]].
Dyson married Deirdre Hindmarsh in 1968. Her salary as an art teacher partially supported him while he developed his vacuum cleaner. The couple have three children: Emily, Jacob and Sam<ref>[http://www.nndb.com/people/812/000109485/ Dyson at nndb.com</ref>.
Dyson paid £15 million for [[Dodington Park]], a 300-acre [[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] estate in [[Gloucestershire]], close to [[Chipping Sodbury]]. He and his wife also have a £3 million [[chateau]] in [[France]], and a town house in [[Chelsea, London]]<ref>[http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=322783&in_page_id=2 Survival, Dyson style | This is Money<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. The [[Sunday Times Rich List 2008]] estimated his fortune at £1.1bn whilst Forbes magazine estimates it at £1 bn.
Dyson was chair of the board of trustees of the [[Design Museum]], "the first in the world to showcase design of the manufactured object", until suddenly resigning in September 2004 <ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/27/ndes27.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/27/ixhome.html</ref>
The museum at [[Butler's Wharf]] on the [[South Bank|south bank of the Thames]] in [[central London]] had "become a style showcase" instead of "upholding its mission to encourage serious design of the manufactured object", in his words. <ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/27/ndes27.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/27/ixhome.html</ref> The other trustees included [[Sir Terence Conran]], the museum's founder and [[Lord Palumbo]], the former [[Arts Council]] chairman. <ref>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/27/ndes27.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/27/ixhome.html</ref>
In 1997 Dyson was awarded the [[Prince Phillip]] [http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/en/Design-Council/1/Our-history/Prince-Philip-Designers-Prize/ Designers Prize]. He was appointed a [[Knight Bachelor]] in the [[New Year's Honours]] December 2006.
===Early inventions===
The [[Sea Truck]], Dyson's first product, was launched in 1970 whilst he was at the Royal College of Art. Sales of the Sea Truck amount to $500 million.<!-- what years dollar value. 1970? --> His next product, the [[Ballbarrow]], was a modified version of a [[wheelbarrow]] using a ball to replace the wheel. Dyson remained with the idea of a ball, inventing the [[Trolleyball]], a trolley that launched boats. He then designed the [[Wheelboat]] which could travel at speeds of 64 [[km/h]] on both land and water.
===Vacuum cleaners===
[[Image:Dyson.cleaner.dc07.arp.jpg|thumb|DC07 Dyson vacuum cleaner]]
In the late 1970s Dyson had the idea of using [[cyclonic separation]] to create a [[vacuum cleaner]] that wouldn't lose suction as it picked up dirt. He became frustrated with his [[Hoover]] Junior’s diminishing performance: dust kept clogging the bag and so it lost suction. The idea of the cyclones came from the spray-finishing room's air filter in his Ballbarrow factory. While partly supported by his art teacher wife's salary, and after five years and 5,127 prototypes, Dyson launched the 'G-Force' cleaner in 1983. Unfortunately, no manufacturer or related distributor would launch his product in the UK as it would disturb the valuable cleaner-bag market, so Dyson launched it in [[Japan]] through catalogue sales.<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/ceonetwork/2006/08/01/leadership-facetime-dyson-cx_hc_0801dyson.html James Dyson Cleans Up - Forbes.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Initially manufactured in bright pink, the G-Force had a selling price of £2,000 (British Equivalent). It won the 1991 International Design Fair prize in Japan. He obtained his first U.S. [[patent]] on the idea in 1986 ({{US patent|4593429}}).
After failing to sell his invention to the major manufacturers, Dyson set up his own manufacturing company. In June 1993 he opened his research centre and factory in [[Malmesbury, Wiltshire|Malmesbury]], [[Wiltshire]]. The product now outsells those of some of the companies that rejected his idea and has become one of the most popular brands in the [[United Kingdom]]. In early 2005 it was reported that Dyson cleaners had become the market leaders in the [[United States]] by value (though not by number of units sold). Note that the US was introduced to Dyson when Root Cyclone was implemented, so in the US there were no sales of the DC01 - DC05 Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaners. The Dyson Dual Cyclone became the fastest selling vacuum cleaner ever to be made in the UK.
Dyson scientists were determined to create vacuum cleaners with even higher suction. This was achieved by adding a smaller diameter cyclone to give greater [[centrifugal force]]. This led to a way of getting 45% more suction than a Dual Cyclone and removing more dust, by dividing the air into 8 smaller cyclones, hence the name Root 8Cyclone. Dyson's breakthrough in the UK market, more than 10 years after the initial idea, was through a TV advertising campaign that emphasized that, unlike its rivals, it did not require the continuing purchase of replacement bags. At that time, the UK market for disposable cleaner bags was £100 million. The slogan of 'say goodbye to the bag' proved more attractive to the buying public than a previous emphasis on the suction efficiency that its technology delivers. Ironically, the previous step change in domestic vacuum cleaner design had been the introduction of the disposable bag - users being prepared to pay extra for the convenience of dustless emptying.
Following his success the other major manufacturers began to market their own bagless vacuum cleaners. Dyson sued [[The Hoover Company|Hoover]] UK for [[patent]] infringement and won around $5 million in damages. His manufacturing plant moved from [[England]] to [[Malaysia]], for economic reasons and because of difficulty acquiring land for expansion leaving 800 workers redundant. The company's headquarters and research facilities remain in Malmesbury. Dyson later stated that because of the cost savings from transferring production to Malaysia he was able to invest in [[R&D]] at Malmesbury. Dyson employs more people in the UK than he did before the transfer of manufacturing to Malaysia.
In 2005, Dyson added the wheel ball from his Ballbarrow concept into a vacuum cleaner, creating the Dyson Ball, claimed to be more manuverable.
===Further inventions and creations===
In 2002 Dyson created a realisation of the [[optical illusion]]s depicted in the [[lithograph]]s of [[Netherlands|Dutch]] artist [[M. C. Escher]]. Engineer Derek Phillips was able to accomplish the task after a year of work, creating a [[water sculpture]] in which the water appears to flow up to the tops of four ramps arranged in a square, before cascading to the bottom of the next ramp. The creation titled ''[[Wrong Garden]]'', was displayed at the [[Chelsea Flower Show]] in the spring of 2003<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3046791.stm BBC NEWS | UK | How does Dyson make water go uphill?<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. The illusion is accomplished with water containing air bubbles pumped through a chamber underneath the transparent glass ramps to a slit at the top from which the bulk of the water cascades down. This makes it appear that the water is flowing up, when actually a small amount of water diverted from the slit at the top flows back down the ramps in a thin layer.
In 2003 Dyson expanded his "dual cyclone" technology into a new kind of washing machine. Called "dual cylinder" it was unique in having two rotating drums which moved in opposite directions to each other for improved efficiency. It was also distinctive in being branded with the bright pink and purple Dyson colours, rather than the traditional white, grey or black of most other machines. The item did not take off with the public as hoped, and can be seen as the first big failure in Dyson's journey of innovation.
In October 2006 Dyson launched the [[Dyson Airblade]], a fast hygienic [[hand dryer]]. The Dyson Digital Motor (DDM) produces an air stream flowing at 400 mph. This unheated air is channeled through a 0.3 millimetre gap, no thicker than an eyelash. A sheet of air acts like an invisible [[windscreen wiper]] to wipe moisture from hands leaving them completely dry. The Airblade is said to dry hands completely in just ten seconds. It is 83% more energy efficient than conventional hand dryers on the market.
==Quotations==
* "I just want things to work properly."
* "Enjoy failure and learn from it. You can never learn from success."
* "After the idea, there is plenty of time to learn the technology."
==Autobiography==
In 1997 Dyson wrote ''Against The Odds: An Autobiography'', co-authored by [[Giles Coren]], ISBN 0-7528-0981-4.
==See also ==
* [[Dyson (company)]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.dyson.com Dyson] company web site.
*[http://www.dyson-products.co.uk Dyson (UK)] official UK web site
*[http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/10/6BFC.html James Dyson profile] at [[Forbes|Forbes.com]]
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3046791.stm BBC notice] of Dyson's water sculpture ''Wrong Garden'' with photos and diagram.
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2004/12_december/09/dyson.shtml ''Engineering the Difference'' Dyson's Richard Dimbleby Lecture in 2004]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyson, James}}
[[Category:1947 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Old Greshamians]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:British billionaires]]
[[Category:English inventors]]
[[Category:British industrial designers]]
[[Category:English businesspeople]]
[[Category:People from Norfolk]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art]]
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