James Dyson Diary Entries
21st December 1978
Christmas clean up- Hoover Junior vacuum being a pain. Only 2 years old, losing suction already. I went out to buy presents, passed the local sawmill. And- oh-, ho, cyclone separation, is it? Man, that, - don’t know what to say about that. Uses centrifugal force to pull away dust particles from the main flow of air, since dust particulates have too much inertia and are thrown away from air particles and slide into dust trap. Idea- shrink cyclone separator small enough to become vacuum cleaner. Then, when air and dust particulates collide, they get separated using centrifugal force and don’t cause vacuum to lose suction. Bing! Key of my future lies here-
27th December 1978
Easier said than done- why, oh why, key to future, key to being lifted out of poverty, key to living better life- all junkies, rubbish- garbage!!! Impossible! Cyclone separator cannot be shrunken, too much effort. Dust particles too heavy, air particles too light, incompatible! What to do now, oh help me Jesus! Wait- if I can increase air pressure using centripetal force, maybe dust particles will get forced out of tornado and slide off walls into dust bin! Yes!
2nd January 1979
No again. 8th prototype finished, after tests, results show particulates follow path of curvature, and keep gaining momentum until cloggage near bottom of cylinder. This does not make sense. Following the laws of physics, heavier particles should diverge off the curvature of the air since they have more inertia. But my prototype has both air and dust particulates exiting from the outlet and clogging the filter.
5th April 1979
Reporting prototype 138. Filter cloggage problem fixed. Turns out the curvature of air needs to be stronger to keep the air particulates, but at same time allow heavier dust particles to fling away from path. A new problem- what was working well before is now failing me- cyclone separator exit is too large, many dust particles for some reason get sucked through.
28th November 1979
Prototype 604 success! Now I need to make the rest of vacuum- stand, wheels, and added attachments.
12th June 1980
Why?! Thou artless, shard-borne applejohn, thou tottering, weather bitten scut, thou dissembling, earth-vexing maggot-pie, why?! Prototype 1866 failure. Total. Disaster has struck me and my wife. What can I do but keep improving my design? At least she believes in me. She thinks that my design could really impact the market. Without her, I would have given up long ago, Probably before prototype 10. If my product is a success, I will gift half the proceeds to her. I just hope she is right.
30th April 1981
Prototype 2627- Me and my wife are really counting our pennies. These days as I start to age, I wonder what life would be like if my invention worked. Maybe we could move into a larger house by the ocean or be interviewed by the BBC in front of an audience live on TV. One day, I may even be knighted or win a Nobel peace prize. At this stage, we would probably make a living by cleaning public lavatories.
15th October 1981
Prototype 3727- Wife giving art lessons to children for some extra cash. Family in crisis. Good news- cyclone separator working nicely, correct air stream direction and improved curvature for air exit. Design is really starting to look like something. Maybe if I get through this hurdle, I will see a silver lining in these stressful times. Hopefully. Must keep hope. Must keep trying. Must keep going until I leap over the hurdle. I will make this design a success. Somewhere deep, deep down I just know.
23rd May 1982
Prototype 4500- Yes. Added a conical bottom to cylinder to improve air curvature trajectory. I'm now quite certain that this design is going to land a kablam on the market.
9th August 1983
Prototype 5127- Yes!!! I have got it now. Celebrate with me, my Diary! We're going to be rich! We're going to be rich! We're going to be rich! We're going to be... Anyway, after 5126 failed designs, I finally created the perfect design. I was wrong to call my other 5126 designs 'fails'; all of them were steps to success, each a step closer. Now all I need to do is convince the world that my design beats the rest.
