It didn’t, and though reports later claimed he died of a heart attack in midfall, he didn’t quite stick the landing. Known as the Flying Tailor, Reichelt wore folds of fabric hanging from his shoulder like drapery, stitched together to form wings and fill up with air upon flight. 4, 1912, in Paris, Franz Reichelt dove from the Eiffel Tower. The first fall came hard and fast, and it was fatal: On Feb. Stirling’s idea would be confined to use as a backup generator (like the Philips model, shown here) for a century or so until Dean Kamen, who invented the Segway, brought the Stirling back as the basis of his Beacon generator, a 1,500-pound, washing-machine-size system that can be tied to solar panels or natural gas to power a small business, a rural village or, in his case, a very large eco-friendly home. But steam, which was an inefficient and dangerous power source when Stirling started, had improved and would provide the power and scale to drive the Industrial Revolution. Stirling and his brother, James, spent decades improving the engine before it was able to power a whole iron foundry in Dundee. On the one hand, his confidence in his invention is admirable, but on the other hand, his decision was reckless and he paid for it with his life.Ĭheck out the early history of the parachute here.In 1816, the same year that he became a minister in the Church of Scotland, Robert Stirling patented the Heat Economiser, which could take heat from anything - a fire, say, or the palm of your hand - and turn it into dynamic energy through the use of two pistons. In the end, Franz Reichelt joined a myriad of other individuals who lost their lives in the pursuit of safe human flight. Had the suit design worked, sponsors would be just as likely to back the project if it was tested with a dummy. Some sources say he felt pressure to make a statement in order to attract sponsors, but this seems unlikely. It’s a tragic and needless end to the story, without a clear reason behind Reichelt’s decision to jump himself. ![]() There is video of the fatal jump, which shows a mass of formless fabric trailing behind his body as he falls to the ground. The parachute never fully opened, and Reichelt fell to his death in front of a crowd of onlookers. Once at the ledge, with the suit partially deployed already, he hesitated for roughly 40 seconds before leaping into the air. After some initial confusion and pushback from the police, he was allowed to climb to the tower platform. For some reason, however, he would not be convinced otherwise. After the surprise announcement, numerous friends of his tried to dissuade him from jumping himself. According to the Chief of Police at the time, if they knew it was going to be a live jump they would not have granted him permission. Upon arriving at the tower wearing his suit, he announced that he would be jumping himself. The authorities believed Reichelt was going to use a dummy for the demonstration. He secured permission for a test jump in early 1912, and he subsequently announced to the press that the jump would take place on 4 February 1912. This was roughly five times higher than his previous launch points. He set his sights on the first deck of the Eiffel Tower, which was 57 meters, or 187 feet, above the ground. This would allow the dummies to gain sufficient speed for his parachute to properly deploy and slow the fall. Reichelt believed higher launch points were needed to properly test his designs. Still, he continued with his studies and made numerous test-jumps from low launch points, around 10 meters, or 32 feet, in height. He applied to organizations in the hope of securing financing, but was unsuccessful. His focus was on reducing weight while increasing surface area for the canopy. These initial tests were promising, but he ran into difficulty when he tried to create a wearable suit out of the design. He tossed the dummies from the fifth floor of his apartment building in Paris. His first designs consisted of foldable wings made of silk, and he used dummies for testing. ![]() Reichelt believed he could develop a wearable version of the frame-less parachute, which would greatly increase it’s potential. He was inspired by the work of André-Jacques Garnerin, who developed and successfully tested the first frame-less parachute design. In 1910-1912 he developed a wearable suit for pilots that would expand into a parachute should they need to eject themselves from their aircraft. ![]() Pictured above is an illustration showing Franz Reichelt, a French tailor and inventor who was an early pioneer of parachuting.
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