![]() ![]() ![]() Reichelt's original design weighed around 70 kilograms (150 lb) and used 6 square metres (65 sq ft) of material. Attempts to convert the initial prototype parachutes into a workable suit proved difficult. ![]() His early tests with dummies equipped with foldable silk "wings" were a resounding success: dropped from the fifth floor, they touched down lightly. Reichelt seems to have become interested in parachute design after hearing some of the stories of fatal accidents among the early aeronauts and aviators. Early parachuting successes, such as those by Louis-Sébastien Lenormand in 1783 and by balloonist Jean-Pierre Blanchard, had used fixed-canopy parachutes (that were already "open" before the jump began), and although André-Jacques Garnerin had invented a frameless parachute suitable for use from high altitudes, by 1910 a parachuting solution that was suitable for use when jumping from a plane or at low altitude had yet to be developed. The dawn of the aviation age brought inevitable accidents coupled with a growing interest in safety measures, most notably in the development of an effective parachute. From July 1910, he began to develop a "parachute-suit": a suit that was not much more bulky than one normally worn by an aviator, but with the addition of a few rods, a silk canopy and a small amount of rubber that allowed it to fold out to become what Reichelt hoped would be a practical and efficient parachute. He took an apartment on the third floor at 8 rue Gaillon near the Avenue de l'Opera from 1907 (which he rented for 1500 francs a year) and opened what was to become a successful dressmaking business, catering mostly to Austrians on trips to Paris. One of his sisters may have also come to France and been married to a jeweller there, but newspaper reports differed on the details of his family life, with most reporting that his sisters stayed in Vienna. He obtained French nationality in 1909, adopting the first name François (the French equivalent of the Germanic "Franz"). ![]() Reichelt was born in Wegstädtl, Austrian Empire (today, Štětí, Czech Republic) in 1879 and moved to Paris in 1898. The next day, newspapers were full of the story of the reckless inventor and his fatal jump – many included pictures of the fall taken by press photographers who had gathered to witness Reichelt's experiment – and a film documenting the jump appeared in newsreels. Although it was clear that the fall had killed him, he was taken to a nearby hospital where he was officially pronounced dead. The parachute failed to deploy and he crashed into the icy ground at the foot of the tower. Despite attempts by his friends and spectators to dissuade him, he jumped from the first platform of the tower wearing his invention. He was finally granted permission in early 1912, but when he arrived at the tower on 4 February he made it clear that he intended to jump himself rather than conduct an experiment with dummies. Believing that the lack of a suitably high test platform was partially to blame for his failures, Reichelt repeatedly petitioned the Parisian Prefecture of Police for permission to conduct a test from the Eiffel Tower. ![]()
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