Those little sleeves you put on your umbrella are a great invention, but (here it comes!) they could use a little improvement. The main problem is that when you try to put these things on, you end up soaking yourself in the process. Clearly there’s a market for a good looking, basic device that lets you slip your umbrella easily into a sleeve and be done with it. I actually came across the gadget that does just that in a office building in the middle of Washington, DC. Oh, it’s called the Rain Safe.

As you can see by the picture, it’s a fairly self-explanatory device. And if you still don’t get it when you’re standing right in front of it, trying to use it, there’s a little placard that will explain it all for you (hopefully). I didn’t get a chance to try it, as it wasn’t raining and I didn’t have an umbrella, but it looked like it would work. . .

The one I saw was the single model that only handled your bigger umbrellas. Because of how popular compact umbrellas are these days, Rain Safe also sells a double version which has a side for big, and a side for small umbrellas.

This isn’t the gadget you buy for your house, but if you’re in charge of office lobbies, shops, hotels, etc. take a look at the Rain Safe. Prices seem reasonable, but then again, I’m not quite sure what companies usually charge for these types of things. Anyway, the single is $345, the double is $595, and 3,000 sleeves are about $100.

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