NZ umbrella covers itself in glory in Japanese TV tests

Scott Kington (left) from Blunt Umbrellas and Gary Devon, the Pukekohe Park Raceway circuit manager, test out a cheap umbrella against the Blunt Umbrella. Photo / Natalie Slade

They measured the strength of a pencil tin by getting an elephant to stand on it and tested Japan's strongest drill by attempting to drill the tough metal tungsten.

Now, a Japanese film crew is testing a New Zealand-designed umbrella - by sticking it out of a convertible while whizzing around the race track at Pukekohe.

The unscientific tests will see Blunt umbrellas, which are advertised as being able to withstand winds of more than 110km/h, appear on the consumer products show in Japan which has a name that, loosely translated, means "sword versus shield".

The show involves finding two opposing products and profiling the companies that make them, before putting them into battle to find out which one wins. The film crew is researching Madeblunt, the New Zealand company that makes the umbrellas.

The crew were filming a test at Albany on Friday where they found it withstood wind from a hovering helicopter.

They also filmed at Pukekohe Park Raceway, where they drove the umbrellas in a 1972 Jaguar E-Type convertible to see what speed they could withstand before turning inside out.

The umbrellas handled speeds of more than 100km/h before the front blew down. Afterwards, the umbrellas, which are made to turn inside out and back again without breaking, were fine for use.

A cheaper umbrella, which was used just for show, broke at 35km/h and its stem buckled at 60km/h.

The film crew is yet to find a company with a wind ventilation system to test the umbrellas against but when they do, umbrella designer Greig Brebner will travel to Japan for the competition stage of the show.

The show, which screens on Fuji Television in Japan, has already tested Japan's strongest drill against tungsten, in a battle which the metal won.

And they tested an elephant versus a metal pencil case in which the pencil case won.

Mr Brebner, 37, a mechanical design engineer, said the appearance on the show came after the company's Japanese distributor contacted television producers.

He came up with the idea for Blunt umbrellas about 10 years ago while he was living in London after getting sick of being poked in the eye with umbrellas and seeing so many broken ones in rubbish bins.

The umbrellas are built so users do not have to wrestle them in high winds, using a patented design that makes them much more taut than other models.

They have been on sale in New Zealand for between $99 and $110 (there are two sizes) since late 2009 and began being sold in Japan early last year.

And while his product is pretty durable, Mr Brebner is realistic about its strength.

"Nothing's invincible, nothing is going to go forever."