Patent ID: 7419122

Claim:
A parachute, for controlling its opening, comprising: a canopy having a skirt; a plurality of gores spaced about the skirt, the plurality of gores being defined by a first group of gores and a second group of gores; a slider having a plurality of through-holes, said slider being positioned and fixed at the canopy skirt for impeding inlet airflow to the canopy and for slowing the opening of the canopy, said airflow around the slider being uniform; a line loop attached to the slider; a first reefing line extending through the first group of gores and having a pair of ends attached to the line loop, said first reefing line being connected to the slider; a second reefing line extending through the second group of gores and having a pair of ends attached to the line loop, said second reefing line being connected to the slider; a plurality of groups of suspension lines, each group of suspension lines passing through a corresponding through-hole in the slider, each suspension line in each group of suspension lines being attached to a corresponding gore; and a single reefing line cutter, said cutter being attached to the slider, and said line loop going through the reefing line cutter, said cutter being configured to cut the line loop after a predetermined amount of time has elapsed so as to release said first and second reefing lines and said slider, and to allow the slider to slide down the suspension lines, whereby said single cutter reefs the canopy by releasing both reefing lines and the slide, and said single cutter controls opening the canopy by allowing the canopy to start to inflate and expand, and thereby allowing the slider to slide down the suspension lines for further opening the canopy.