Sir James

Sir James Dyson, (born May 2, 1947, , , Eng.), British inventor, industrial designer, and entrepreneur who successfully manufactured innovative household appliances and became a determined campaigner to restore engineering and technical innovation to high esteem in British society.

Sir James Dyson with his bladeless fan, 2010. As a boy, Dyson attended the prestigious Gresham’s schools in rural Holt, North Norfolk. After graduation he went to London, where he attended the Byam Shaw School of Art for a year (1965–66) before studying furniture and interior design at the (1966–70). Whilst here he was introduced to the creative possibilities of uniting engineering with design. In 1970 he went to work for Rotork Controls Ltd., Bath, Somerset, where he and the company’s unconventional chairman, Jeremy Fry, designed and produced the Sea Truck, a small, fast, flat-bottomed fibreglass landing craft for use by military. In 1974 Dyson founded his own company to produce the Ballbarrow, a plastic wheelbarrow-like bin that rolled on a ball instead of a narrow wheel.

In 1978 Dyson, having grown impatient with clogged air filters in his Ballbarrow factory, built a cyclone particle collector similar to devices used in larger industrial plants, such as sawmills. Adapting this solution to home vacuum cleaners, he worked for the next five years, testing more than 5,000 prototypes, before he produced a satisfactory model that swirled incoming dirty air around a cylindrical container, where the dust was separated by centrifugal force and settled by gravity while the purified air escaped out the top. Makers of traditional bag-type vacuum cleaners showed no interest in Dyson’s bagless device. He sold the cleaner, known as the G-Force, to a company in Japan, where it became a household name and a huge success and won a design prize in 1991. In 1993 Dyson opened a plant in North Wiltshire, and within two years his Dual Cyclone model became the top- selling in Britain, despite a retail price considerably higher than that of competing brands. Dyson’s elegant and practical appliances went on to win many design awards and were exhibited in art and design museums around the world. He followed up the vacuum cleaner line with other products, such as the Air Multiplier bladeless fan, introduced in 2009, in which air drawn through the base unit is blown over the inner surface of an ethereal airfoil-shaped ring, inducing air surrounding the ring to flow in an uninterrupted stream.

Dyson’s design and commercial success lent authority to his quest to revive the spirit of invention in Britain. In 1997 he published Against the Odds (cowritten with ), an autobiographical account of his persistence in the face of discouragement. The following year he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 2002 the James Dyson Foundation was established with the aim of encouraging young people to enter engineering through the awarding of prizes and grants. In 2009 the Conservative Party invited Dyson to propose policies to encourage innovation, and he replied in March 2010 with Ingenious Britain: Making the UK the Leading High Tech Exporter in Europe, a report that suggested, among other ideas, more freedom for universities to design their own curriculum and more collaboration between universities and technology companies.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Jeannette L. Nolen, Assistant Editor. Citation Information Article Title: Sir James Dyson Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Date Published: 28 April 2020 URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Dyson Access Date: June 17, 2020

WHOLE CLASS GUIDED READING – VIPERS

Extract we are Sir James Dyson Biography using: Vocabulary to BRONZE SILVER GOLD discuss: manufactured innovation prestigious Explain what the author means by using the phrase ‘restore engineering and technical innovation to high esteem in British society’ [2] Find and copy the word that tell us that as a child James Dyson lived in the countryside. [1]

Jeremy Fry was a forward thinking boss. Find and copy the word that shows this. [1]

What was James Dyson’s first company called? What did it produce? [2]

During the years 1993-95 how do you think Dyson would’ve been feeling. Use evidence from the text to explain why. [2]

James Dyson had a growth mind-set. Find and copy the phrase that shows this. [1]

Dyson’s designs looked good. Find a word or phrase that shows this. [1]

WHOLE CLASS GUIDED READING – VIPERS

Extract we are Sir James Dyson Biography using: BRONZE SILVER GOLD Vocabulary to Manufactured Innovation Prestigious Adj, inspiring respect and discuss: Adj, produced on a large Noun, a new method, idea, admiration; having high scale using machinery. product, etc status

[make engineering and inventing exciting and popular in Britain again]

[rural]

[unconventional]

[The Ballbarrow, a plastic wheelbarrow-like bin that rolled on a load-spreading ball instead of a narrow wheel]

[James Dyson would have been very happy- his company was making money and people liked his vacuum. The Dual Cyclone model became the top-selling vacuum cleaner in Britain even though it was more expensive than others- despite a retail price considerably higher than that of competing brands.]

[persistence in the face of discouragement]

[exhibited in art and design museums around the world or elegant.]