Parachute

A parachute is a soft fabric device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag. Parachutes are generally used to slow the descent of a person or object to Earth or another celestial body with an atmosphere. Parachutes are also sometimes used to aid horizontal deceleration of a vehicle (an airplane or space shuttle after touchdown, or a drag racer). The word parachute comes from the French words para, protect or shield, and chute, to fall. Therefore parachute actually means to protect from a fall. Many types of modern parachute are quite maneuverable, and can be flown like gliders.

History

A few medieval documents record the use of parachute-like devices to allow a person to fall (somewhat) safely from a height. In 852, an Andalusian daredevil named Armen Firman jumped from a tower in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts to arrest his fall, sustaining only minor injuries. In 1178, another Muslim attempted a similar feat in Constantinople, but he broke several bones and later died of his injuries. According to Joseph Needham there were working parachutes in China as early as the twelfth century.

Related Topics:
852 - Andalusian - Armen Firman - Cordoba - 1178 - Muslim - Constantinople - Joseph Needham - China - Twelfth century

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Leonardo da Vinci sketched a parachute while he was living in Milan around 1485. However, the idea of the parachute may not have originated with him: the historian Lynn White has discovered an anonymous Italian manuscript from about 1470 that depicts two designs for a parachute, one of which is very similar to da Vinci's. The first known test of such a parachute was made in 1617 in Venice by the Croatian inventor Faust Vrančić. A 1595 sketch of Vrančić's parachute is at left.

Related Topics:
Leonardo da Vinci - Milan - 1485 - Lynn White - 1617 - Venice - Croatia - Faust Vrančić - 1595

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The parachute was re-invented in 1783 by Sebastien Lenormand in France. Lenormand also coined the name parachute. Two years later, Jean-Pierre Blanchard demonstrated it as a means of safely disembarking from a hot air balloon. While Blanchard's first parachute demonstrations were conducted with a dog as the passenger, he later had the opportunity to try it himself when in 1793 his hot air balloon ruptured and he used a parachute to escape.

Related Topics:
1783 - Sebastien Lenormand - France - Jean-Pierre Blanchard - Hot air balloon - Dog - 1793

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Subsequent development of the parachute focused on it becoming more compact. While the early parachutes were made of linen stretched over a wooden frame, in the late 1790s, Blanchard began making parachutes from folded silk, taking advantage of silk's strength and light weight. In 1797, Andrew Garnerin made the first jump using such a parachute. Garnerin also invented the vented parachute, which improved the stability of the fall. In 1890, Paul Letteman and Kathchen Paulus made the first knapsack parachute.

Related Topics:
Linen - Silk - Andrew Garnerin - Paul Letteman - Kathchen Paulus

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At San Francisco in 1885, Thomas Scott Baldwin was the first person in the United States to descend from a balloon in a parachute. On March 1, 1912, US Army Captain Albert Berry made the first parachute jump from a moving airplane over Missouri. Štefan Banič from Slovakia registered the first modern parachute patent in 1913.

Related Topics:
San Francisco - 1885 - Thomas Scott Baldwin - United States - March 1 - 1912 - Albert Berry - Airplane - Missouri - Štefan Banič - Slovakia - 1913

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The first millitary use for the parachute was for use by artillery spotters on tethered balloons in World War I. Hydrogen balloons used for spotting were easy targets for enemy fighter aircraft and were difficult to escape from while on fire. To avoid interception, observers would jump from their balloon and descend by parachute as soon as enemy aircraft were seen. The ground crew would then attempt to retrieve and deflate the balloon as quickly as possible. Aircraft crews, however, were forbidden from carrying their own parachutes. Having parachutes onboard was believed to encourage the unnecissary abandonment of expensive aircraft during flight.

Related Topics:
World War I - Fighter aircraft

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The first emergency freefall parachute jump ended in a grape arbor in the back yard of the still-standing house at 335 Troy St in Dayton, Ohio. The jump was made by McCook Field test pilot, Lt Harold H Harris, on Oct 20, 1922. Harris' airplane crashed three blocks away in the yard of a double house that once stood at 403 Valley Street.

Related Topics:
Dayton, Ohio - McCook Field

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