Hot topic: Inventor claims clothes dryer is 10 times faster and irons too

AN IRISH inventor has developed a revolutionary clothes dryer which dries clothes 10 times faster than a conventional tumble dryer — and it irons them as well.

Weighing less than 1lb and powered by a domestic hair dryer, the Vapper Dryer looks like a suit cover and can be hung on a door hook.

Capable of drying several garments at a time, the business end has an inflatable insert which fills up with hot air and an outer plastic cover which holds onto the heat.

Utilising the same physics as a pressure cooker, the clothes rapidly dry out and, due to the high air pressure, wrinkles are prevented from forming in the first place.

“The pressure forces the dampness through every pore and fibre of the garment and it also dries the clothes from the inside and outside at the same time,” said Cork-born Tony Kelly.

“When people see it, they are going wow — no way. It is only when they see it in action are they convinced.

“Dyson built a billion dollar industry on a better way of vacuuming — that is what I am hoping to achieve in Ireland. This is 10 times faster than a tumble dryer, it’s cheaper, irons your clothes and gets rid of odours,” added Mr Kelly, who is now based in Drumcondra, Dublin.

I personally gave the Vapper a test-drive and can attest that it does everything that it says on the tin. A wringing wet linen jacket that was all creased was dry and wrinkle-free within seven minutes flat.

Tony had the idea last year, while drying his kids’ clothes before school. Running late, he was all hassled because it would take at least half an hour to dry them in a tumble dryer.

Out of a common everyday occurrence a germ of an idea formed; that there had to be a better and faster way of doing things:

“You are not going to send your children to school in wet clothes; so one day some time later I was in a factory and I saw them pumping up air beds and the idea came together.’’

For more than a decade, Tony worked in a Japanese consumer electronics factory in Holland as a chief environmental officer responsible for reducing power and energy consumption.

“A normal 3 kilowatt tumble dryer costs 42 cent an hour to run; it also needs a full load to operate efficiently. If you only put one item in the tumble dryer it will take three times longer to dry out.

“The Vapper will dry a pair of wringing wet jeans in seven minutes, in a tumble dryer on its own it would take 40 minutes. The Vapper is extremely energy efficient; it will retail at €49 and it will pay for itself within a year,” explains Tony.

The world’s first tumble dryer was invented by George Sampson in 1896 and consisted of a revolving drum with holes in it which hot air passed through.

Currently the world market for domestic clothes dryers is worth more than €3 billion.

“Everyone has this notion that drying clothes takes a lot of time. But it is only a myth, because every drying machine is basically the same.

“So I decided to create the world’s fastest clothes dryer — and I have succeeded,” added Tony.

The technology has been patented and Tony is planning to manufacture the product in Ireland. He is in talks with the US-based Shopping Channel.