Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/219

Rh PARACHUTES.] AERONAUTICS 201 Jaki aarento. al para- king. and, at a height of about (it is believed) 8000 feet, Garnerin separated the parachute from the balloon. For a few seconds his fate seemed certain, as the parachute retained the collapsed state in which it had originally ascended, and fell very rapidly. It suddenly, however, expanded, and the rapidity of its descent was at once checked, but the oscil lations were so violent that the car, which was suspended 20 feet below, was sometimes on a level with the rest of the apparatus. Some accounts state that these oscilla tions increased, others that they decreased as the parachute descended, and the latter seems most probable. It came to the ground in a field at the back of St Pancras Church, the descent having occupied rather more than ten minutes. Garnerin was hurt a little by the violence with which the basket containing him struck the earth ; but a few cuts and a slight nausea represented all the ill effects of his fall. He made, certainly, one other descent in a similar way (as that just described is stated to have been his third), and we believe several others on the Continent, but this was the only one he effected in England. Jordaki Kuparento, a Polish aeronaut, is the only person -^-ho ever made any real use of a parachute. He ascended from Warsaw on July 24, 1808, in a fire-balloon, which, at a considerable elevation, took fire; but being provided with a parachute, he was enabled to effect his descent in safety. The next experiment made with a parachute was that te de- which resulted in the unfortunate death of Mr Robert Cocking. So early as 1814 this gentleman had lectured on the subject before the City Philosophical Society, and also before the Society of Arts. He always retained an interest in ballooning, and made two ascents one with Mr Sadler, and the other on September 27, 1836, with Mr Green. The success of the balloon trip of Messrs Hollond, Mason, and Green, seems to have incited Mr Cocking to demonstrate practically the truth of his views. He accord ingly constructed a suitable parachute on his principles, and having succeeded in obtaining the consent of Messrs Hughes and Gye, the proprietors of Yauxhall Gardens, to permit the ascent to be made there, he prevailed on Mr Green to ascend in his great Nassau balloon with the parachute attached. The great defect of Garnerin s umbrella-shaped parachute was its violent oscillation during descent, and Mr Cocking considered that if the parachute were made of a conical form (vertex downwards), the whole of this oscillation would be avoided ; and if it were made of sufficient size, there would be resistance enough to check too rapid a descent. He there fore constructed a parachute on this principle, the radius of which at its widest part Avas about 17 feet. It was stated in the public an nouncements previ ous to the experi ment that the whole weighed 223 t&amp;gt;; but from the evidence at the inquest it appeared that the weight must have Cooking s Parachute. been over 400 In. Mr Cocking s weight was 177 fl), which was so much additional. On July 24, 1837, the trial took place; and the Nassau balloon, with Mr Green and Mr Spencer, a solicitor, in the car, and having suspended below it the parachute, in the car of which was Mr Cocking, rose from the ground at twenty-five minutes to eight in the evening. A good deal of difficulty was experienced in rising to a suitable height, partly in consequence of the re sistance to the air offered by the expanded parachute, and partly owing to its weight. Mr Cocking wished the height to be 8000 feet; but Avhen the balloon reached the height of 5000 feet, it being then nearly over Greenwich, Mr Green called out to Mr Cocking that he should be unable to ascend to the requisite height if the parachute was to descend in daylight. Mr Cocking accordingly let slip the catch which was to liberate him from the balloon. The parachute for a few seconds descended very rapidly but still evenly, until suddenly the upper rim seemed to give way, and the Avhole apparatus collapsed (taking a form resembling an umbrella turned inside out, and nearly closed), and the machine descended with, great rapidity, oscillating very much. When about two or three hundred feet from the ground, the basket became disengaged from the remnant of the parachute, and Mr Cocking Avas found in a field at Lee, literally dashed to pieces. Mr Green and Mr Spencer, who were in the car of the balloon, had also a narrow escape. At the moment the parachute Avas disengaged they crouched doAvn in the car, and Mr Green clung to the valve-line, to permit the escape of the gas. The balloon shot upwards, plunging and rolling, and the gas pouring from both the upper and lower valves, but chiefly from the latter, as the great resistance of the air checked its egress from the former. Mr Green and Mr Spencer applied their mouths to tubes communicating with an air-bag with which they had had the foresight to provide themselves, otherwise they would certainly have been suffocated by the gas. Notwith standing this precaution, however, the gas almost totally deprived them of sight for four or five minutes. When they came to themselves they found they were at a height of about four miles, and descending rapidly. They effected, however, a safe descent near Maidstone. Many objections were made, after the result, to the form of Mr Cocking s parachute ; but there is little doubt that had it been constructed of sufficient strength, and perhaps of somewhat larger size, it would have answered its pur pose. As it was, the upper rim Avas made of tin, which soon gave Avay. Mr Wise, the American aeronaut, made some experiments on parachutes of both forms (Garnerin s and Cocking s), and found that the latter always were much more steady, descending generally in a spiral curve. In 1839 Mr Hampton made three descents in a para chute, on Garmrin s pattern, from his oal- loon, the &quot; Albion.&quot; He folloAved Gar nerin s example in attaching the para chute to the netting of the balloon, so that Avhen the con nection between the tAvo Avas seA r ered the latter was left to its OAvn devices. Mr Hampton took mea sures, hoAvever, that Hampton s Parachute, it should descend soon after the parachute, and it AA T as generally found no great distance off, and returned to him. All his parachute descents were safely performed, although in one he Avas a good deal shaken. We may remark, that a descending balloon half-full of gas either does rise, or can Avith a little management be made to rise, to the top of the netting and take the form of a parachute, thus materially lessening the rapidity of descent. Mr Wise, in fact, having noticed this, once purposely exploded his balloon when at a considerable altitude, and I. 26 Mr Hai ton s p; chute descent Descent Balloon onn