Imagine, if you will, a conventional brolly. Round, flimsy, spokey, spikey at the edges and, more or less, entirely evil. Prone to blowing inside-out at the merest suggestion of a breeze, poking innocent passers-by in the eyeball and entangling tresses of the tumbling kind and careless fingers in their machinery.

No longer. The Tame Ctenophore Umbrella features two layers of tough, transparent, waterproof material with the spokes and workings sandwiched inside. The spokes and hinges are enveloped in double-sewn tubing of rainbow colours, giving the whole the appearance of a ctenophore with scintillating cilia. The canopy is highly domed, providing improved stability and taking up less space, a major consideration in crowded areas.

The greatest advantage of the Tame Ctenophore Umbrella, though, is that is cannot be blown inside out.

At the bottom edge of the umbrella, a three inch wide tube of extra material extends beyond the ends of the spokes, enclosing a ring of flexible steel rope whose circumference is slightly less than that of the umbrella itself (6 inches less, to be precise). When the umbrella is opened, this extra material becomes taut stretched between the umbrella's outer edge and the smaller inner ring. This creates a small "shelf" inside the umbrella's rim whilst still leaving more than enough room for the Tame Siphonophore Umbrella owner's head and shoulders. This extra element stabilises the canopy further and prevents the umbrella from overextending and blowing inside-out in the wind.

The double-layered construction protects fingers and curls from nipping and tangling and the sealed edges and tough plastic covering thwart the umbrella in its attempts to poke people in the eye.

It may not fold up to fit in a handbag, but the Tame Ctenophore Umbrella will protect you from rain, pain and retribution and, as if that wasn't enough, you can pretend to be a jellyfish at the same time!
-- squeak, Dec 20 2006

Inspiration http://www.kenreal..../pages/aglantha.htm
A ctenophore with scintillating cilia [squeak, Dec 20 2006]

Another ctenophore http://www.kenreal..../pages/bacteria.htm
[squeak, Dec 20 2006]

Dome Umbrella http://www.umbrella...omew&Category_Code=
Similar [xenzag, Dec 20 2006]

Blow up Brella http://www.rksdesig...bout_me/Bumpbrella/
I just found this - a gem [xenzag, Dec 27 2006]

I'm a big fan of ideas about umbrellas and have several more that I haven’t put up here yet. The Dome has been around for a few years, though your version has its own unique, original features, so I'm neutral on this. I do like the jellyfish aspect.
-- xenzag, Dec 20 2006


I was hoping my skills as a ctenophore whisperer would finally be needed to tame the wild ctenophores needed for this device. No bob can plumb the depths of my disappointment.
-- bungston, Dec 20 2006


Sorry [bungs]. Not tame ctenophores, a tame umbrella (that does what it's told).
-- squeak, Dec 21 2006


//The greatest advantage of the Tame Ctenophore Umbrella, though, is that is cannot be blown inside out.//

The greatest advantage of the Titanic is that it could not sink.
-- Chefboyrbored, Dec 21 2006


The thing that inside-outs an umbrella is the wind hitting its concave side. To prevent this, you should have a weathercock on the top of the umbrella controlling a set of cables parallel to the shaft. The whole top part of the umbrella should sit on a universal joint, constrained by those cables, and the weathercock should ensure that the convex surface of the umbrella is always turned slightly into the wind, that being also the direction from which the rain is hitting you.
-- pertinax, Dec 30 2006


Yeah, but the inner ring is smaller than the brim of the brolly which means it can't turn inside-out. You might get blown off'v yer feet and some way down the street, mind. But that's a plus, surely.
-- squeak, Jan 05 2007



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