Patent ID: 7172158

Claim:
A ram air parachute having a front edge and a trailing edge, comprising: a top skin a bottom skin opposite the top skin; a plurality of loaded ribs disposed between the top skin and the bottom skin, each of said plurality of loaded ribs having a length and a height, said length extending from said parachute front edge to said parachute trailing edge; a plurality of non-loaded ribs disposed between the top skin and the bottom skin, each of said plurality of non-loaded ribs having a length, said length extending from said parachute front edge to said parachute trailing edge, said length of said non-loaded ribs substantially the same as said length of said plurality of loaded ribs, wherein at least one non-loaded rib is disposed between two of the loaded ribs and wherein the at least one non-loaded rib has a height shorter than the two of the loaded ribs over its entire length so as to transfer tension from a junction between the bottom skin and the loaded ribs through the bottom skin to the non-loaded rib; and a plurality of suspension lines attached to the loaded ribs.