Chinese reinvent the umbrella

Rachel Zarrell has a BuzzFeed article about a new version of an old device:

A team of Chinese designers has invented a new kind of umbrella for the person sick of lugging around a soggy one: the Air Umbrella, which uses a “force field of air” to keep you dry.
But the slightly devious invention doesn’t just prevent you from getting wet; it also propels the rain into a three-foot canopy, likely onto unsuspecting passersby. You’ll be the hit of the sidewalk! (Don’t quote me on that.)
“If nearby pedestrians do not take their own umbrella, they will be affected more or less, but they will get wet in a rainy day if they haven't taken an umbrella anyway,” creator Chuan Wang said.
The umbrella has been a huge hit on Kickstarter, where it raised eight times the creators’ goal of $10,000; the fundraiser still has four days left.
Wang said that the Air Umbrella was designed with post-graduates from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, who worked from July of 2012 to August of 2013 to perfect the prototype.
The device, weighing less than two pounds, works with a motor and a fan, and is powered by a lithium battery. The fan creates a cycle of air that flows through the umbrella’s tip, deflecting drops and forming a protective layer around the user. Apparently two people can fit under the umbrella; more, if it’s not raining heavily. Though, much like a regular umbrella, intense wind can render the umbrella useless. “When the speed of wind reaches a certain level, not even the umbrella you are using now is useful, and neither is the air umbrella,” Wang wrote.
And, unfortunately, the futuristic umbrella needs to be charged for thirty to sixty minutes for about fifteen to thirty minutes of use, depending on the model. That's useful from the house to the subway, but not so much in a downpour. The creators said they hope that, with the money raised, the battery life will be improved by the time the umbrella is released.
If all goes well, production is expected to begin in September of 2015, with the new toy delivered by December of 2015.

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