Leonardo da Vinci’s pyramidal emergency device was a parachute designed to slow a person’s descent.
Leonardo sketched the design around 1485 in the Codex Atlanticus. It consisted of a pyramid-shaped linen canopy supported by poles, with a base and height of roughly 7.2 metres in his surviving description. The canopy was intended to create enough air resistance for a person to descend safely from a great height.
The design was theoretical and was not tested during Leonardo’s lifetime. Modern parachutes usually use flexible fabric canopies, suspension lines, and harnesses, making them much lighter and more controllable than Leonardo’s rigid concept.
The idea is often described as an early parachute because its essential purpose matches that of later devices: increasing drag to reduce falling speed. A 2000 test using a full-scale replica reportedly demonstrated a stable descent, although the replica was released from a balloon rather than used for a historical flight.