Brian DeLorenzo, age 12, of DeKalb, Ill., for his question:
WHEN WAS THE PARACHUTE INVENTED?
A parachute is a device that looks a bit like an umbrella. It is used to drop a person oz his gear through the air slowly enough to prevent injury or damage upon impact with the earth. In 1797 a Frenchman named And:e Garnerin was the first to use a parachute. He successfully dropped from a balloon that was more than 2,000 feet in the air.
The idea of the parachute was first sketched by the famous inventor and artist Leonardo da Vinci is 1514. Another Italian, Fausto Veranzio, published a drawing of a workable parachute in 1595.
It was not until the 20th Century, however, that the parachute began to come into practical use. The development of the airplane was responsible for this breakthrough.
The first successful parachute jump from an airplane was made by a U.S. Army captain named Albert Berry in 1912.
The first parachutes were packed in open baskets attached to the outside of the plane. This arrangement was unsatisfactory, however, because a chute sometimes became entangled on the outside of the plane.
The seat pack parachute, strapped to the jumper's body, was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1919. In 1922 it became compulsory to wear them during all flights. A backpack type, worn on the upper back, and a chest pack type were also introduced at about this time.
Paratroops, or parachute troops, were employed by armies on both sides of the fighting during World War II. Troops as well as their tanks, artillery, motor vehicles and other equipment, were landed by parachute with speed and effectiveness.
A U.S. paratrooper wears two nylon parachutes. The main chute is on his back and a reserve chute is attached to his chest. The main chute has a diameter of 35 feet. The reserve chute, which measures 25 feet across, is used only if the main chute fails.
Parachutes have two kinds of opening devices: the static line and the rip cord. The static line is a cord 17 feet long. One end of it is tied with string to the vent at the top of the parachute canopy. The other end is attached to the inside of the airplane.
After the jumper has dropped a short distance, the static line pulls the parachute out of the pack. When it is all the way out, the string breaks. The static line stays attached to the plane as the jumper falls free.
A rip cord chute is opened by the jumper at any time after he has left the plane. When the rip cord handle is pulled, an umbrella sized pilot chute is released from the pack. It fills with air and drags out the canopy, which also inflates with air.
Suspension lines, attached to the skirt, or edge, of the canopy, lead to four risers that extend from the harness.