New or Improved Combined Parachute and Aerostat.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
New or Improved Combined Parachute and Aerostat.
1, LOUIS CAPAZZA of 16, Rue Drouot, Paris in the Republic of France,
Inventor, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention has for its object a system of aerostat, combined in such a way as
to render innocuous any fall which may take place through an accident arising to
the balloon.
Parachutes have only been hitherto employed (except in the case of my ballast
parachutes) for securing an aeronaut in an intentional fall or one made for
exhibitional purposes. But, if the balloon which supports the aeronauts should
happen to burst, they are absolutely of no use, whatever may be their dimensions.
My system of aerostat, which I call "Capazza's Aerostat," removes all danger, it
is combined in such a way that the parachute, which forms a constituent part of it,
cannot remain unopened as soon as the balloon bursts. This parachute is further
of such dimensions that it will always easily support the car, and all the material
which the latter is intended to contain.
My invention consists in covering the balloon, properly so called, with a
parachute, to the cords of which the ring, which supports the car, is directly
fixed.
So that the invention may be fully understood, reference is made to the accom-
panying sheet of drawings.
This parachute consequently assumes the shape shown in Figure 1 of the accom-
panying drawing, in which A is the parachute closed, covering the balloon B,
which consequently is, to a certain extent, lodged in the pocket formed by the
parachute.
The dimensions of the parachute should be calculated according to known
formulas taking into account the total weight of the aeronauts and the material.
If a fall is produced by any reason whatever, the air is caught in the parachute
which opens and the arrangement assumes the form shown in Figure 2; the
balloon B then occupying any suitable position in the space comprised between the
parachute, the cords and the ring.
In order to ensure a descent without oscillation, the upper opening D where the
air escapes has a truncated conical shape forming a cone of vertical stability having
its supporting point on a column of air. Other openings d having the same shape
may be distributed, for the same purposes, over the surface of the parachute and
will serve in cases where the balloon is not entirely torn, that is to say, when the
central opening D may not be entirely uncovered.
Under these conditions, a parachute of large dimensions, perfectly capable of
supporting the car of the balloon, whatever its weight, will be obtained. This
arrangement may casily be applied to aerostats of any forin.
In order to guard against falls caused by the firing of the balloon, properly so

page_text: called, the parachute, as well as its cords, may be covered with a coating rendering
them incombustible.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The new or improved combined parachute-aerostat which consists in the com-
bination, with a balloon properly so called, of a parachute (such as A) attached to
the ring supporting the car, and which parachute is provided with one or more
conical openings for the purpose specified, the whole substantially as herein before
described and shown.
Dated this 26th day of February 1892.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.