A Brief History of Parachutes
The physics behind a parachute is easy to understand. But making
real ones are far from easy. Making toy parachutes seem like a good idea
for an easy science project but experimenting with different variations is
not as easy as tying strings to a fabric. Making parachutes for use in
real life takes a lot of risk and accuracy.
Before modern
parachutes gave us the thrill of skydiving it took a lot of guts for early
investors to design parachutes that actually work and not fall them to
their death. The history of parachutes went through a lot of development
and a few deaths.
The modern parachute was invented by
Louis-Sébastien Lenormand in 1783. However there are earlier versions of
parachutes created by a few centuries earlier. Before the silk parachute
was invented, there were basic designs built that worked in the same
principles.
Parachutes, past and present
The earliest form
was a cloak attached to wooden struts. It was made by an Arab Muslim named
Arem Firman in the 9th century. He jumped from a tower in Cordoba and
suffered only minor injuries. Parasols were used in China for
entertainment. It allows entertainers to jump form high places and float
to the ground.
Leonardo da Vinci also sketched parachute with
conical designs. It served as an escape device to enable people to jump
from burning buildings. In 1617 Faust Vrancic was the first person to be
able to make a successful jump with a parachute.
Jean Pierre
Blanchard developed his own parachute as a means to get off a hot air
balloon. His first demonstrations were done with a dog as the passenger.
He later on unintentionally put his invention to the test as he escaped
from his ruptured hot air balloon.
In the 1790's he made a
parachute out of silk which were more stringer and lighter than previously
used materials. Early parachutes were made of linen with a wooden
frame.
Andre Garnerin invented the vented parachute in 1797 and
made a successful jump using Blanchard's design. The vented parachute
improved stability during descent. Gleb Kotelnikov invented he knapsack
parachute. It was popularized by Katchlen Paulus and Paul
Letterman.
The first major use of parachutes was in the military.
It was by artillery spotters and pilots. Unfortunately the parachutes were
heavy and pilots were not able to use it entirely. The German Air Service
provided parachutes to their pilots. Unfortunately there were many
setbacks that most of the pilots died when using them.
Leslie Irvin
was able to invent a parachute that can be used by pilots when jumping out
of an airplane in 1919. The Irvin parachute became successful leading to
the creation of the Caterpillar Club.
Experiments on parachutes
were continued by several countries. It was then used in surprise attacks
by dropping soldiers in enemy lines in World War II. The soldiers were
called paratroopers. Airborne forces and crew were trained and equipped
with parachutes.
Their designs were developed and improved over
time. After the war parachutes were used in skydiving which is an extreme
sport. The latest parachute is called Ram-air which has the same
capability of a paraglider.
It enables its passenger to control the
speed and direction of the parachute for a soft landing. It's made of
nylon and uses the latest technology to prevent
tearing.
Get expert advice about parachuting at http://www.articlefog.com/category-parachuting.htm.
Here you can find all information about parachutes,
powered parachutes,
parachuting,
parachure courses and many more.
Article Source: www.ArticleFog.com.
Related articles
|
|