Page:Popular Mechanics 1928 01.pdf/107

 When the dummy is dropped experimentally from an airplane far aloft, the rip cord connected to the pack is simultaneously jerked, releasing the parachute. But the first thing to emerge from the canvas envelope is a small "pilot chute," thrown out by springs. Catching the wind, it exerts a pull which yanks the big parachute out of the pack, and thereby the parachute is enabled to expand quickly.

It is fully opened by the time the dummy has fallen 150 feet. Then, the expanded umbrella having caught the resisting air, it floats downward toward Mother Earth at a rate of thirteen feet a second. The loftiest height in the sky from which a parachute jumper has ever leaped was twenty-six thousand feet, or nearly five miles. It took him a little over half an hour to reach the ground. but he alighted safely. The first parachute drop from a flying machine was made in 1912, at St. Louis, by Capt. Berry. The chute was folded and stuffed into a cylindro-conical metal container. In the following year, the first "knapsack" parachutes were developed, with a rip cord to open the pack. The seat pack is designed for flyers who do not move about during flight. Another type is the "lap pack," which rests in the lap of the airman. It is especially for use by gunners and observers. A gunner usually has the most available room directly in front of him and below the waist line.



To learn how to use a parachute requires no natural aptitude beyond the ordinary, and very little training. The aviator. when he jumps from aloft, holds in his hand a ring to which the rip cord is fastened. All he has to do is jerk it, and the rest of the business takes care of itself. The sensation of floating downward is described as being rather agreeable than otherwise. 