The Umbrella

The Umbrella is defined in the Wikipedia as "An umbrella or parasol (sometimes colloquially, gamp, brolly, or bumbershoot) is a canopy designed to protect against Precipitation or sunlight"

Once I was listing out a couple of objects around us, used by us, which haven't undergone major design changes over remembered time and the Umbrella was the first to pop up in my mind. Before I could even write about this "Evolution Stagnation" of the Umbrella I wanted to confirm if I am correct, so I googled for two kinds of Umbrellas, one, for the most modern ones available in the market and two, for the ancient ones documented.

The most modern umbrellas available can be found here and the oldest documented can be found here and I was correct, Umbrellas haven't evolved at all for over centuries together. There can be two explanations for this

1) The design of the Umbrella has been almost perfect for the need it was developed for, from the time of its invention, that it required no design development.
2) The need for its existence and further development has been overridden by many other inventions.

This second explanation is intriguing, because if its true it makes us go back and look at the need for the invention of the Umbrella.According to me, the evolution stagnation of the Umbrella can be because of both the above mentioned explanations.

1) The Umbrella is a perfect cover from Sun and Rain when used over a short period of time and distance.
2) Humans donot have the need to use it for over a long period of time or distance as cars and other covered vehicles have taken over the job of the Umbrella.

The Umbrella therfore is a classic case of a product where, "Need is limited but essential, so the product lives on but product development is unnecessary but is agreeable so there is design evolution stagnation"