André-Jacques Garnerin inventor of the frameless parachute
Andre-Jacques Garnerin (31 January 1769 - 18 August 1823) was a balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute. He was appointed Official Aeronaut of France.
Garnerin, a student of the ballooning pioneer professor Jacques Charles, was involved with the flight of hot air balloons and worked with his brother Jean-Baptiste-Olivier Garnering in most of his ballooning activities.
Garnerin began experiments with early parachutes based on umbrella-shaped devices and carried out the first parachute descent (in the gondola) with a silk parachute on 22 October 1797 at Parc Monceau, Paris.
Garnerin's first parachute resembled a closed umbrella before he ascended, with a pole running down its centre and a rope running through a tube in the pole, which connected it to the balloon. Garnerin rode in a basket attached to the bottom of the parachute; at a height of approximately 3,000 feet (1,000 m) he severed the rope that connected his parachute to the balloon. The balloon continued skyward while Garnerin, with his basket and parachute, fell. The basket swung violently during descent, then bumped and scraped when it landed, but Garnerin emerged uninjured.
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