A Parachute Life-Preserver for Aeronauts 



Pivot- 



Sliding. head- 

 Tension spring.. 



N ^ 



The instant the 

 aviator is thrown 

 out of his nor- 

 mal position, the 

 spring is released 

 and the para- 

 chute stick is 

 straightened out 

 automatically 



EVERY ship car- 

 ries its cork- 

 jackets for pas- 

 sengers. Is there no 

 life-preserver which the 

 crew of an aircraft can 

 don in an emergency? 

 The parachute at once 

 suggests itself. Pre- 

 arranged parachute 

 leaps have often been 

 made from airplanes, 

 are different if the airplane is beyond 

 control, owing to the quickness with 

 which disaster overtakes one in the air. 

 There is no time to think. Then there is 

 the difficulty of getting clear of an over- 

 turned machine which itself drops like a 

 stone. The critical point is the automatic 

 unfolding of the parachute in the air 

 through the initial drop kself, which 

 demands that it must be just slightly 

 unfolded below so as to be ready to catch 

 the air. 



Kaja P. Togstad, in inventing a para- 

 chute that would remain efficient in an 

 accident, has evidently realized these 

 difficulties and taken a step in the right 

 direction. He would throw a parachute 

 automatically into the correct opening 

 position by mechanical means. As the 

 picture shows, he supplies his parachute 

 with a central stick like an umbrella's. 



It is ready for any emergency and 

 acts automatically — says the inventor 



The stick doubles on itself 

 in the middle, so that the 

 whole contrivance can be 

 carried on the aviator's 

 back. A coiled spring 

 automatically unfolds and 

 straightens the stick the 

 moment the aviator leaves 

 his normal position in the 

 machine. The device 



would, however, seem feasi- 

 ble only if the parachute 

 was no larger than an 

 umbrella. Although so 

 small a parachute would 

 somewhat retard the 

 fall, there would be 

 scant comfort for the 

 bereaved family in 

 knowing that the avia- 

 tor was picked up after 

 a fall of nine thousand 

 feet with only a broken 

 neck and not with every 

 bone shattered as usual. 

 The place of this 

 umbrella-like con- 

 trivance might conceiv- 

 ably be taken by a 

 really efficient para- 

 chute (of twenty-two 

 feet minimum diame- 

 ter)' made of cloth and 

 ropes so thin, yet strong, that it might be 

 folded into a small enough bundle at the end 

 of the stick which by the same mechanism, 

 might be thrown instantly and automati- 

 cally into the proper position to catch the 

 air and open promptly. 



In use, the parachute device is fastened 

 to a corset-like belt which the aviator dons 

 when preparing to make his ascent. The 

 swinging staff section is held down by 

 means of lashings, which allow the wearer 

 to walk about in the machine so long as 

 the parachute is collapsed. After the , 

 aviator takes his place in the seat of the 

 airplane he releases the lashings so that 

 the staff will be free to operate but will be 

 held back against the seat and prevented 

 from action unless the aviator is thrown out 

 or moves suddenly from his seat. 



In most acci- 

 dents, the avia- 

 tor has little 

 time to act. Just 

 here lies the 

 value of this de- 

 vice, when coup- 

 led with an effi- 

 cient parachute 



439 



