Dyson has come up with the idea for an all-in-one stop for washing and drying your hands in the public restroom, with a device that combines a sink and a hand dryer. This would mean you wouldn’t need to move away from the sink to grab a paper towel or wait in line to use the dryer. In the patent, spotted by PhysOrg, the integrated design features a single faucet that acts as both an air blower and water tap. It proposes:

A dual-purpose fixture for a sink or wash basin, incorporating both a water tap and a hand dryer. The water tap has a spout arranged to project over the basin of the sink, and the hand dryer incorporates two or more hand-dryer nozzles.

The hybrid sink/dryer has a sensor to tell when hands are present, which recognizes when palms are open and ready for drying. The nozzles direct air at each other, and there is a space between them for moving your hands in and out.

Dyson patent

Photo by Tim McFarlane