The Patent Office Has Over 3000 New Umbrella Designs On File (Video)

National Umbrella Day is celebrated across the nation each year on February 10th.

On this day, we honor one of the world’s most useful inventions, the umbrella!  Not only does the umbrella help keep us dry from the rain, but it also protects us from the heat of the sun.  Umbrellas can also be used as a fashion accessory.

Interesting Umbrella TidBits:

• The word umbrella comes from the Latin word umbra, meaning shade or shadow. Brolly is a slang word for umbrella, often used in Britain, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.  Bumbershoot is a fanciful Americanism for an umbrella from the late 19th century.
• YOU CAN THANK THE SUN FOR THE WORD UMBRELLA; While people today associate umbrellas with rain, the roots of the word have to do with shade from the sun—umbrella stems from the Latin umbra for “shade, shadow.”
• The basic umbrella was invented over four thousand years ago.  There is evidence of umbrellas in the ancient art and artifacts of Egypt  Assyria, Greece and China.
• It was the Chinese that first waterproofed umbrellas for use in the rain. They waxed and lacquered their paper parasols to protect them from the elements.
• One of the first umbrella shops in existence opened in 1830 at 53 New Oxford Street in London, England.  James Smith and Sons operates regular hours at the same location still today.
• In 1928, Hans Haupt’s pocket umbrellas appeared.  In 1969, Bradford E. Phillips, the owner of Totes Incorporated of Loveland, Ohio, obtained a patent for the first “working folding umbrella.”
• Umbrellas have also been fashioned into hats as early as 1880 and as recently as 1987.
• In photography, umbrellas with a reflective inside are used by photographers as a diffusion device when employing artificial lighting and as a glare shield and shade, most often in portrait situations.
• UMBRELLAS WERE ONCE USED SOLELY BY WOMEN. Umbrellas were the ancient equivalent of donning a pair of high heels—only women would use them, and they were a blatant symbol of femininity. In fact, in many ancient cultures, men brandishing umbrellas was a sign of effeminacy. And umbrellas were often associated with high fashion and wealth. It wasn’t until the mid 18th-century, when the founder of English Magdalen Hospital was publicly and frequently seen using an umbrella, that the connection between femininity and umbrellas disappeared.
•  United States Patent Office has seen more than 3000 plans for redesigning the umbrella, from adding a pet leash to attempts at creating a flying umbrella. But none have really stuck. Today, a Google search of the US Patent Office yields 120,000 entries with the word “umbrella,” including an automated sun tracking umbrella, dog umbrella, umbrella with interchangeable tops, mister-equipped umbrella system, and many more.
• The Umbrella Cover Museum in Maine boasts the largest collection of umbrella covers in the world.
• Over 33 million umbrellas are sold in United States each year.

Umbrellas have been featured in many motion pictures, most notably:

* Singing in the Rain – 1952           * Mary Poppins – 1964

https://youtu.be/D1ZYhVpdXbQ

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Dollys Brollys

Umbrella Factory

Mental Floss

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