![]() In the days before ‘the scenes were too horrifying to be shown’ approaches to news reporting, Reichelt’s death was caught on film and shown in newsreels, along with helpful footage of the hole in the ground made by his impact. He clearly had all too long to see the error of his plan. And while it might seem to be, at least, a quick death, it was claimed that his eyes were wide open, frozen in terror. His right arm and leg were crushed, his skull and spine broken. The results were certainly spectacular, if brief, as the parachute immediately folded around Reichelt and he plunged to the ground. After arguments with security guards (who sensibly considered this to be a mad folly), at 8.22am on February 4th 1912, he donned his 30 square metre suit – described by Le Temps as “a sort of cloak fitted with a vast hood of silk” – bid the assembled crowd “ À bientôt“, and jumped off the guard rail. Again, the more cautious fellow might have at least done a test drop first, but as we’ve seen, Reichelt was not a cautious man. ![]() However, for reasons unknown – rumours are that he was under pressure from potential sponsors to make a spectacular demonstration – Reichelt decoded to make the jump himself, rather than use a dummy. He eventually convinced the Parisian authorities to allow him to make a test drop from the first platform of the tower. Reichelt, however, was convinced that the failures were due to insufficient height for his tests, rather than any design flaws. A more cautious man might have thought to go back to the beginning, when the suit design was bulkier, but seemingly more effective. Initial tests with dummies were encouraging, but as he tweaked the design, the success rate plummeted. One of those inventors was the Austrian born Frenchman Franz Reichelt, who thought that he had the solution with his parachute suit. You have below the film that was made today.In the early days of aviation, the search for a safe way for aviators to exit a crashing plane saw several inventors competing to come up with a workable and practical parachute idea. The triangular shape of the garment is more likely to move in the air, like the base jumpers, than to descend vertically, like the paratroopers, it also explains the failure of the test. The problem is that the air exposure surface is far too weak to actually slow the fall, but that's not all. We find in his combination a certain resemblance to the bats he was inspired by. This is the basic principle of jump, an extreme sport practice very dangerous. The combination used was a rubberized canvas with triangular wings with little tension, so that between each limb the air could rush and slow down the fall. What were the defects of the Reichelt combination? Other members of the press were there, and it was they who popularized the jump, bringing it to the present day. It is he who will also film the curious, after the death of Reichelt. A cameraman was filming the adventurer on the first floor, while another was filming the jump from the ground. ![]() The badges were at the foot of the tower. That day, many people came to see the feat. The man did not really fly, he fell heavily, barely slowed down, causing a ground impact of 15 to 20 centimeters. 40 seconds of hesitation, for our man who was probably aware of the danger, and a few more seconds for the fall that did not allow the costume to unfold normally. The result did not wait more than 45 seconds. But none took the initiative to prevent the jump, planned with a manikin. He was surrounded by a few police officers whose task was not to hinder the experience, with regard to any curious. However, the day chosen (February 4, 1912, a day when the temperature was 0 °), at 8am, it is without mannequin that Franz Reichelt appeared on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. Before he could take off, he had to contact the prefecture of Paris, who agreed to the condition that the jump be done with a mannequin, he had not received the authorization to jump himself.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |