About Umbrellas

To understand the umbrella = To protect your lovely umbrella


* Do you know that 11. June is the day of Umbrellas in Japan?
* Do you know that how many parts are used for an umbrella?
A normal umbrella could be used up to 50 parts, some high-end umbrellas might use more than 200 parts.

A) Important Parts of An Umbrella
1) Fabric of Canopy /Cover
The fabric of cover is usually polyester. This is because polyester doesn’t change when stretched out in both wet and dry states.
Nylon and cotton are also in used. Nowaday, plasticised fabrics are employed too.
Almost all umbrellas' fabrics today are coated with Teflon. This renders the umbrella rainproof. The coating itself is invisible,
hence the colours of the materials are maintained and the fabric retains its soft touch.
Nowadays,most of the Japanese umbrellas are with stylish lacey edge and with beautiful embroidery.

2) Shafts
Shafts are usually made of Steel plated with nickel and brass or painted, Aluminium, FRP ,cane and wood etc.
High reliable Carbon fibre and fibreglass are developped to use as its weight are light and durable.
High-quality and stable umbrellas have continuous (one-piece) shafts, and are hence at core elegant walking sticks.

3) Frame&Ribs , Stretcher
Generally 8-piece frames are used for long and folding umbrellas. Japan Emperor used high quality umbrellas, they are fabricated with 16 frames. Japanese and Chinese old style of umbrellas have countless frames.

The ribs are the parts of the umbrella which support the canopy. Materials used include steel, fibreglass, aluminium,
nickel and even bamboo. The durability and stability of the umbrella is determined largely to strength, material,
form and quatity of the ribs.

4) Rivet
The rivets should be solid, not hollow. These are the most difficult to work with, but offer the greatest durability.
Cheap articles are made using hollow rivets which are not able to withstand constant opening and closing operations.

5) Notch
All ribs are attached together with the connecting wire at this point. The notch itself is attached directly to the shaft.
Today the notches are almost made of plastic, while high-quality handcrafted umbrellas have notches made of metal.

6) Cap
The cap rests above the notch on top of the umbrella canopy, it prevents water from running down along the shaft.



B) The History of Umbrellas England, London - is known for its rainy weather, and regarded as a city of portable roof (umbrellas). So it was no surprise that there was an Englishman - Jonas Hanway (1712-1787) - who made the umbrella that we know it today. And It was Jonas Hanway, who made the umbrella into the indispensable companion of the British gentelman. Around 1800 an, umbrella weighed around 10 lbs., as its frame consisted of wooden rods and whalebone. Even Wellington, the victor of Waterloo, owned an umbrella made of wax canvas which included a dagger hidden in the handle. And again an Englishman, Samuel Fox from Sheffield, a subject of her Majesty Queen Victoria, invented the steel frame in 1853 which eliminated the umbrella's unwieldy heft. The English word "umbrella" derives from the Latin word "umbra", meaning shadow, with "umbrella" being a poetic word form meaning "little shadow". Regardless of whether its function was to ward off the sun or rain, umbrellas were considered purely a feminine accessory. As early as 1715 the Parisian manufacturer Marius proclaimed the invention of the pocket umbrella, and in the 19th Century there were many attempts to make the umbrella easier to transport. In 1852 John Gedge announced a self-opening rain umbrella from Paris. The real breakthrough, however, was realized in the 1920s by Hans Haupt in Berlin. He constructed the first telescoping pocket umbrella (up to then all small umbrellas had been foldable models), and with it founded the Knirps company in Berlin. The "Knirps" then began to revolutionise the world of umbrellas. In 1936, another innovation hit the market in Germany, the first automatic pocket umbrella with the name "Lord & Lady". With the beginning of the 1950s the rise of the pocket umbrella began, and the "designer umbrella" as a fashion accessory fell behind due to the needs and desires of the travelling automobile society. The small wonder umbrella "Knirps" experienced a real boom during this decade. This trend was reinforced during the 1960s with the introduction of nylon fabrics which could be manufactured in an unbelievable variety of colours and patterns. The rain umbrella became slimmer, lighter, flatter, and much more durable. After a watch and jewellery, the Knirps became the standard gift for communion, confirmation, birthdays, name days, Mother’s Day, Christmas, Easter, and other holidays. It was only during the last years of the 20th Century that innovation took off again for umbrellas. This time the new materials and functions came from the Far East. Lightweight umbrellas made of aluminium (and even out of fibreglass), new frames with a double automatic mechanism for closing and opening, new fabric, and new coatings (such as Teflon) are changing the market.

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