Leonardo da Vinci used a pyramid-shaped canopy for his proposed parachute design.
In a manuscript sketch from the late fifteenth century, Leonardo described a parachute made from linen held open by a wooden framework. His design had a pyramidal canopy about 7.2 metres high and 7.2 metres wide at its base. The structure was intended to slow a person’s fall by trapping air.
Leonardo did not build a documented working parachute. The design was based on careful mechanical reasoning, but its large rigid frame would have made it heavy and difficult to control. In 2000, the British adventurer Adrian Nicholas constructed and tested a modern interpretation of the design using contemporary materials. He descended safely, although he switched to a conventional parachute near the ground because the historical design was difficult to steer.
Leonardo’s idea predates the parachutes developed in the modern era by several centuries. The pyramid canopy is therefore a distinctive feature of his proposal, not a description of the round parachutes commonly seen today.