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Object Timeline

  • We acquired this object.

-0001

1954

  • Work on this object began.

2014

2015

2025

  • You found it!

Sketch For Inflatable Umbrella (USA)

This is a Sketch for inflatable umbrella. It was made by Joseph B. Friedman. It is dated January 19, 1954. Its medium is pencil on paper.

Joseph Friedman’s best-known invention is the flexible straw, but the range of his inventive activities encompassed writing implements, improvements to engines, and household objects. Friedman frequently sketched on loose scraps of paper—he was especially fond of envelopes—working out ideas and solving problems, as here, where he sketches out an idea for an inflatable umbrella. "Inflation can be by mouth or by small air pump in handle of umbrella," he wrote in these notes, where he suggested that a release valve would also be hidden inside the umbrella handle.

It is credited Joseph B. Friedman Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, 2001.3031.

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Its dimensions are

H x W (drawing): 21.3 x 8.5 cm (8 3/8 x 3 3/8 in.)

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Tools: Extending Our Reach.

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<ref name=CH>{{cite web |url=https://www-4.collection.cooperhewitt.org/objects/51682481/ |title=Sketch For Inflatable Umbrella (USA) |author=Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum |accessdate=10 March 2025 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}}</ref>